Golden Sun 3: The Wise One's Legacy
by Quizer
Summary: 17 year old Will, a dedicated Golden Sun player, is thrown into Weyard. As he and Kara, a girl who accidentally joined him, try to get back to their world, they stumble upon a conspiracy threatening not only Weyard... Set after The Lost Age
1. Prologue

Hi there!

This is my first published fic! I posted it because I want people to read my work, because it doesn't rely on extensive formatting like others I'm working on and because I haven't exactly decided the course the story will take, so you people can actively influence how this fic develops! I hope ya like it! Review, please! Flame if you must, but constructive criticism is more appreciated ;)

Sorry 'bout the pairings, they didn't fit in the summary, you get only so much space… When I looked, they had cut the last 50 or so spaces away…

Anyway, it's: Will / Kara, Lance / Lilly, Isaac / Mia,Garet/Jenna, Ivan / Sheba.

With the latter two pairings, I'm not entirely decided yet, so if you don't like them, now's the time to suggest changes! ;)

Disclaimer: I don't own Golden Sun or any of the characters. Camelot does (or did when I checked last time…). Will's and Kara's names and appearances are taken from the SNES game "Illusion of Time/Illusion of Gaia", which belongs to Enix. (I think.)

But the idea for this story is all MINE! grins malevolently

Alright, now on with the fic!

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Prologue (Will's POV) 

I was sitting in my room playing The Lost Age on my GBA. That was where it all started. I was trying to find some Wonder Birds from which one could win Dark Matter, a forging material to make new equipment. I just encountered a pair of them when the doorbell rang.

"Will, would you please answer the door?" came Grandma Lola's voice from the kitchen. She was obviously trying a new recipe. The house was filled with an exotic aroma.

"Coming!" I said, trying not to sound too annoyed. I didn't like being interrupted in the middle of playing. But I nevertheless had to get used to it long ago…

After I had dealt with the Wonder Birds (which had run off, naturally), I went to the door. "What a strange-looking fellow…" I heard Lola say. "Do you have a new friend, Will?"

_Huh? What's that supposed to mean? _Curiously, I opened the door – and gasped.

"Greetings! My name is Alex, and I was sent here by the Camelot customer service! You ought to be Will. Or am I mistaken?"

It was Alex! Or, more likely, someone dressed as Alex, I reminded myself. Video game characters tend to exist only in ones fantasy… But that guy did a good job! He was complete with clothing and fancy hairstyle… He had even mastered Alex' ridiculously formal speaking style!

_Oh I see. This must be a commercial gag from the company who owns the Golden Sun series! But why would they come to me, of all people? _I shook my head silently, and he went on:

"On behalf of our company, I hereby congratulate you on having been chosen to test our most recent development: Golden Sun: The Wise One's Legacy!"

He took a package out of his robe and gave it to me. I mechanically took it, not believing my ears. The sequel was supposed to be for the GameCube! At least if you choose to believe some of the more speculative rumors floating around the various forums on the Internet…

"I do not need to remind you how high a privilege it is to be able to play this game before its release date. In exchange, you are merely expected to report any possible bugs to our software team by means of the contact data you will find inside the package. Afar from that, I sincerely hope you will enjoy this product. Farewell."

Unable to say anything, I looked at the package instead. The Golden Sun logo was on the front side, including the Wise One, powerful guardian of Alchemy. Below it was an image with the eight heroes from the previous game. On the backside there were two screenshots, one of them showing Isaac on the world map, next to the Mt. Aleph crater. The second one was a battle scene, which pictured some new monsters. I started reading the text on the backside:

"**The lighthouses have been lit, and Weyard is at peace once again.  
But a new evil is already on the rise and our heroes see themselves  
face to face with a terrible foe whose grasp extends beyond the  
boundaries of the known world…**

**- A whole new adventure in the world of Golden Sun awaits!**

**- Explore exciting new areas and discover new Djinn and Psynergy!**

**- Transfer data from TLA to take along your stats and equipment!**

**- Enter the world of Weyard yourself and join Isaac and his friends in their quest!  
(only recommended for experienced players)**

I was completely taken aback. Until now I had prided myself on being generally well informed and I usually knew which games were coming up. And now this! _There have been no signs at all that the sequel to TLA is even in development! No rumors, nothing! Even though the game isn't out yet, I should have picked up something on the web! It is commonly known among my kind when promising new games are being made… And the package and everything is completely perfect and fit for sale! Which means it can't be long until the game is officially released…_I looked back up at the fake Alex, but he obviously had long since been gone._Ah, whatever. I guess I'll just go back to my room._

I decided to try the new game immediately. _Can't hurt, can it?_ I opened the package and looked at the contents. There was a map, similar to the one included in the TLA package, but a lot more detailed. Then there was a pair of fresh batteries (good ones, I could tell by their weight), the instruction booklet (which didn't differ much from the previous ones, a brief peek told me that much…) and of course the game itself.

I slipped all of the stuff I was going to need to play into my pocket. Since I would be busy for quite some time, I decided I was going to play in the backyard. It was a nice warm summer afternoon and it would be much more fun outside. _Wonder what that new feature is…_I wondered while telling Lola I'd be in the garden if she needed me. _Maybe you can create your own character or something…_

So I sat down on the bench in the garden, switched the game cartridges in my GBA and turned on the power…

All of a sudden there was a bright flash and I was blinded for a moment. When I could see again, the screen was blank and the power bulb dead. I turned the power switch off and on again to confirm what I had already dreaded: The batteries were empty!

_That's strange…_I thought. _They should still be at one third of their max power… When I just played, the bulb was still green…_

Shrugging, I took the new batteries from my pocket and switched them with the empty ones. Then I moved the switch once more.

That moment, I felt a grip on my shoulder and a girl's voice said: "Hold on a sec!", but suddenly there was a much stronger flash than before, and I felt my consciousness drown in a flood of white light.

* * *

Kraden's Journal 

**Alchemy**

(Background Information)

The world of Golden Sun is based upon the – nowadays obsolete – theory of Alchemy, according to which all matter consists of the four elements Earth, Fire, Wind, and Water. Following that belief, the ancients sought to create the Stone of Sages, which was said to grant limitless wealth and eternal life. In this story, Alchemy is the source of the four different kinds of Psynergy.

* * *

I have decided to add a portion of Kraden's Journal to each chapter. This will both serve the purpose of explaining some conceptsto people who for some reason didn't play the game, but are still reading this, and it will in time feature new contents and things I'm going to introduce. I hope you enjoy the little tidbits! 

Quizer


	2. Chapter 1

Hi, it's me again!

I have the next two or three chapters set up already (I need to transfer them to the PC, though, as I write a lot of it at school…), so don't be too disappointed if your suggestions don't seem to influence anything right away. Ideas concerning long-term events are probably more likely to make it into the story. But send in your suggestions anyway, I can need all inspiration I can get!

* * *

Chapter 1 (Kara's POV) 

When I awoke, I was lying on the ground. I sat up and waited for the dizziness to go away. Then I opened my eyes.

To my surprise I found myself on a clearing in a forest, quite close to its border. I could also hear the sound of a nearby river.

There was a girl lying there, only a step or two away from me. She had long black hair and was wearing an ornate pink dress that was embroidered with white lace. It wasn't the kind of casual garment that girls usually seem to wear, but for some reason, it seemed to suit her. All in all, she looked rather pretty.

I decided to wake her up; I wanted to look where I was, and I couldn't just leave her lying around like this, could I?

But that's where my wisdom ended already. I bent over her, but how exactly was I going to wake her up…?

Luckily she decided to wake up by herself while I was still pondering that issue. She opened her eyes and looked at me. "Hi?" I said sheepishly. She blinked. "Where are we?" she asked.

"Dunno." I said, waving vaguely to the forest's border where a large plain was to be seen. "You're the one who tried to stop me from turning the power of my GBA on, right?" She nodded as she sat up and explained: "I tried to warn you. Somethingisfishy about this whole mess. I have seen that guy walk away from your house - he looked just like Alex, didn't he?"

"Huh? That means you are a Golden Sun player, too!" She nodded. "Yeah, great games, huh? I'm still waiting for a sequel to The Lost Age to come out!"

"Well," I said, "this guy claimed to be from Camelot and gave me this." I picked up my GBA from the ground, ripped the cartridge out and gave it to her. "This is supposed to be the sequel."

"WHAT!" She looked incredulously at the cartridge. We stood up and I dusted my clothes off. Then I pulled the other stuff from the package out of my pocket and told her how the fake Alex gave me the game to test it. "But there were NO signs at all, not even rumors!" she protested. "You tell me!" I said, putting the stuff back. "I was as surprised as you are."

"Point is, I had watched the guy after he left you alone. Now you must believe me, as soon as he was round the corner, he used Alex' Warp Psynergy and disappeared!" She shook her head. "I know it sounds unbelievable, but I have seen it countless times in the game, I could see the sparkling lights and stuff!"

I looked at her, hoping that this is a bad joke, but she was being dead serious. Since my childhood I have been able to tell when people were being dishonest with me, and this person said what she believed to be true.

"Could it be that what you have seen has been a trick, likein movies or something?" I asked. She pondered the question for a moment. "It looked very real. If what I have seen was staged, it was made brilliantly. An effort simply wasted in this situation, if you ask me."

"I suspected as much. Why would they go to such lengths just for the two of us?"

"For you, " she corrected. "I'm sure I wasn't supposed to see that. When that Alex guy saw me, he looked a bit surprised but then shrugged and disappeared. And if I hadn't tried to stop you, I probably wouldn't be here."

"They could just have left you behind in the garden, couldn't they?" I asked, unconvinced. "Oh well, let's just try to find a way out of this wilderness and get back home. By the way, my name is Will."

"I'm Kara, pleased to meet you! We have to link-battle some time once we're back! What level are your parties?"

We were just about to leave the clearing, engaging in a lengthy conversation about our gaming experiences when I heard a voice behind me: "They ARE Adepts, I tell you!"

"What makes you so sure?" another voice asked. We turned around, looking where the voices came from.

"Can't you feel their power?" asked the first voice. "They have great potential if you ask me." They sounded quite different from human voices and I could only think of one thing that might be sounding like this if I wanted to stay with the theme…

"I can sense something powerful about them, but they're different from the other Adepts we saw…" The voices seemed to come from a shrub at the border of the clearing.

"I know something: Let's just ask them."

Suddenly, two figures emerged from said shrub: they looked like a Mercury Djinni and a Jupiter Djinni! "Hi!" the latter said. "Are you Adepts?"

"Wow, they look real!" I mouthed to Kara. "And the voices, not mechanical at all!"

"Mech-what?" the Mercury Djinni asked confusedly.

"You know, it sounds stupid, but what if we really ARE in Weyard?" Kara whispered. "They look too real…"

She took a step towards the two elementals. "I'm Kara and this is Will. I'm afraid we don't know whether we are Adepts or not."

"Where we come from," I said, "you Djinn are part of a game, but don't exist in reality…"

"Must be a strange game!" the Jupiter Djinni interrupted.

"Yeah, and now I'm not sure whether this is a trick played on us by someone. May we… look at you? A little more closely, you know?"

The Jupiter Djinni was sceptical. "Will they try to catch us?" it asked its companion, who replied: "Look at them, they can't catch us. They are not even armed." _They are talking as if we aren't even there!_ I noted, feeling a bit miffed.

"But if they use Psynergy…" the Jupiter Djinni objected.

"They don't seem to know how…" said the Mercury Djinni. "Let's trust them for now."

The Mercury Djinni came closer so Kara and I could have a look at him. "I'm Bubble and this is Gas." he said. "We're looking for Adepts we can travel with. The Golden Sun has risen, but many of us are still searching for Adept partners…" I examined the Djinni from all sides. He definitely didn't look artificial. I touched him, careful not to scare him. He had short, extremely thick fur and was warm to the touch. I could also feel a strange power within the creature.

"There is an easy way to find out whether you are Adepts or not." he said. "Just watch me and tell me what you see."

He moved several steps away from us. Suddenly it grew in size until it was about half my height. "This is a Djinni's battle shape." He explained. "When the bad guys come, wild Djinn assume this size to fight effectively on their own." He faced the empty ground before us and raised his tail. Blue light shone above it at once and I could see the familiar three circles of light part - I had seen this so many times in the game…

A whizzing sound came from above us, which quickly grew louder and ended in a huge crystal of ice crashing down in front of us with a heavy thud, sending chunks of ice flying everywhere. Miraculously, nobody was hit. The shards quickly vanished, leaving only the impact mark on the ground and the considerably chilly air as proof of the attack.

"That was… a… a Prism Psynergy!" I gasped. Kara looked frightened and thrilled at the same time.

"They are Adepts, see?" Bubble said triumphantly to the Jupiter Djinni who had watched the whole scene from the sideline. "They even know the name of my Psynergy!"

"Hmm… you seem to be Adepts after all…" Gas admitted. "Let's see… You, Will, are obviously a Jupiter Adept! And Kara is a Mercury Adept, of course!"

"If we are Adepts, how do we use Psynergy?" Kara interrupted.

"You don't know how to use Psynergy? Bubble asked. "Well, that's quite unfortunate, because we can't help you there. I could tell you to focus your mind, but I guess that won't do, huh? You probably have to find other Adepts who can tell you… But don't worry, we will join you, so you stand a chance of reaching the town south of here..."

"Besides you are the first ones who didn't try to attack and catch us." Gas said. "I think we will get along quite well."

With that he flew onto my shoulder and disappeared in a purple flash of light, setting himself to me. That moment I could feel the power inside of me, as the Djinni's strength was added to mine. Bubble set himself to Kara the same way, seemingly leaving the two of us alone. But then I heard Gas' voice in my head:_ Remember, you can always talk to me in your mind!_

For a while we just looked silently at each other, each of us trying to digest the turn of events. Finally, I broke the silence: "Let's get going. If we find that town, we might find out where we are."

"Maybe we can tell by the monsters we encounter." Kara suggested.

"Oh. I almost forgot about the monsters. How will we survive?"

_Oh right, here is my ability: I will surround all foes with a cloud of poison, weakening them as time passes!_

_What kind of poison?_I asked him. _Red or green?_

_There's red, too?_

_Green then, I guess. Fair enough. Red would be way too powerful anyway…_

"Alright!" I said to Kara, "Gas can attack all enemies with weak poison, so all we've got to do is last ten turns!"

"But how long is a turn in real-time?" she asked in a mock naive voice.

Laughing and joking, we set off, out of the forest and towards the hills.

* * *

Kraden's Journal 

**Weyard**

(Location)

Weyard is the name of the Golden Sun world, or more accurately the plane on which the story of the two games takes place. It has a number of features which distinguish it from what most people living on Earth perceive as the 'real world', a notable example being the fact that it is not spherical, but flat. The oceans of Weyard run towards the borders of the roughly disc-shaped world and fall off the edge in a immense circular waterfall called 'Gaia Falls' by the residents. Below this spectacle of nature is an endless sea of white clouds that stretches out towards the far horizon. To this day Weyard's scholars can only speculate on how the enormous torrents of water falling off the edge each day are replenished, although it is believed that the source of the endless supply is hidden somewhere in the depths of the Great Eastern Sea.

* * *

How was this? The next chapter's gonna be from Kara's POV! Until then! Please review my story and tell me what you think about it! 

So long - Quizer


	3. Chapter 2

Hi, I'm back!

Whoa, I got REVIEWS already! WHOO-HOO! I am really surprised because it was only 1000 words or so with only the prologue up. But as you see I'm working on it!

As I promised, this chapter is in Kara's point of view! This is also the first battle scene…

Hope you like it!

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Chapter 2

Some time of walking later, there were still no signs indicating any kind of settlement was near and I started to feel slightly exhausted. I looked at Will. He seemed a little worn as well, but was in a good mood. We had talked a lot about our gaming experiences.

Will seemed to have overcome the shock of having been tossed into a new (though not entirely unknown) world, and was obviously willed to make the best out of it. "You know," he said, "I'm really glad I'm not alone here. It would suck, not having anybody to talk to during all these travels. Without you, I would surely be bored to death, if the monsters didn't get me first…" I blushed, wondering whether anyone would do or he meant specifically me…

But Will didn't seem to notice it and went on: "Which is very likely, believe me. I tried playing the game with Isaac alive only. Not only did I have to cope with one action per turn, Isaac also had to take all the hits, since he was the only target…"

Suddenly there was a screeching noise behind me. I spun round and was immediately greeted with the sight of a huge bat diving directly at me! I raised my arms to protect my face, and just in time. Searing pain shot through my arms as sharp claws cut into my skin, leaving long gashes. Ignoring the pain, I took my arms down. I wanted to be able to watch the course of the beast, which flew back up to, prepare its next attack. With its wings spread, it was almost half Will's size. It swooped down on him, but he dodged and tried to punch the monster in return. "Damn! We have no weapons!" he shouted as the bat retreated skywards. _Oh shit. Didn't expext I'd die in my first fight…What are we going to do?_

_Hey, that's what I'm here for! _Said a voice in my head: _Bubble!_

_I'll tell you my ability: I will damage one enemy and make it suffer a random status effect! How's that sound? Wanna try?_

_Yeah, but how? _I sent back. Bubble didn't answer, but suddenly I knew what to do: I raised my arms above the head while strengthening the mental link to my Djinni, then released the power that had built up inside me in one moment, shouting: "Bubble!"

A bright light shone and I could see the Djinni hovering above me, glowing with blue Mercury Psynergy. Large Bubbles that were easily two thirds of my height appeared out of thin air and shot towards the monster. They were all a different shade of blue and each one seemed to contain some kind of symbol. I could make out the ones for Sleep, Stun and Psynergy Seal before they hit the target and engulfed it in a mass of foaming water. It fell out of the air and hit the ground with a thud. The glow around Bubble faded as he settled down on my shoulder.

We went over to look at the felled bat. It seemed to be of the variety that lives in the northern parts of Angara. "Seems like it was knocked out by the blow." Will stated. "It won't bother us anymore." Will found three coins on it, little pieces of what appeared to be gold. "I bet that's worth a lot more in our world!" He said as he pocketed them. Then he paused, took them out again and gave them to me. "Here. You defeated it, so this belongs to you. Good job!"

"Yeah," I said, holding up my blood-dripping arms, "but what are we going to do about this?"

"No idea…" Will admitted. "You're supposed to be the cure master -"

"Ply master!" I corrected.

"Whatever, I guess we'll just make a bandage or something."

In the end, he wrapped a handkerchief around the left arm, which had taken most of the blow. He was extremely careful not to hurt me and did it quite well. When he was done, he asked: "Can you walk?"

I laughed. "What is that supposed to mean! These are just scratches! They do hurt, but even without use of Psynergy they won't take very long to heal. You can bet I'm going to watch my step from now on!"

"Strange," I added, "I thought you'd always get a free attack round in the first battle…"

Will laughed, too, but was there a hint of relief on his face?

"Looks like they changed that as well… Alright, lets get going then!" He pointed to the town in front of us. "We might be able to find someone who teaches us how to use Psynergy there. Besides, we can get us some weapons and some info on where exactly we are!"

We continued our journey. I didn't feel much weaker than before the battle, but I secretly wished that my arms just wouldn't hurt so much…

* * *

Kraden's Journal 

**Psynergy**

(Background Information)

This is the magic on Weyard. It draws its power from the elements and thus comes in four varieties: Mercury Psynergy controls the many forms of water; its main strength is healing and restoring. Jupiter Psynergy commands the forces of wind and lightning but is also attributed with power over the mind. Mars Psynergy features high attack capabilities, depending on heat and fire, and Venus Psynergy channels the earth's might and the power of plants, combining both decent attack abilities and basic healing skills.

**Psynergy**

(Game Concept)

Almost all Psynergy techniques require Psynergetic power. The amount of power spent depends on the spell that was cast. The Adept's body slowly recovers Psynergy by drawing it from the surroundings. As the experience of an Adept increases, so does the maximum amount of Psynergy that can be absorbed and stored by his or her body. More experienced Adepts are also able to exert more power in a given amount of time, allowing them to cast more powerful Psynergy and learn new techniques.

* * *

What do you think? A bit short, eh? Don't worry the next chapter will be longer, and the romance's gonna start! 

Please continue to review! I'm working on typing the third chapter as I write this, so it can't be long till the next update!

See you!

Quizer


	4. Chapter 3

Behold!

Chapter three is under way…

If you don't like romantic scenes, you probably won't like this chapter. But then why are you reading this fic anyway? Besides, there are enough people who like it (like me), so :P !

BTW, I'm not born in an English speaking country, meaning English is my secondary language. If you find grave grammatical mistakes, please notify me so I can change that. I'm constantly revising the whole story, but mostly I only replace a single word which I think sounds better. If I ever make drastic changes, I'll let you know.

Anyhow, on with the fic!

* * *

Chapter 3

(Will's POV)

We walked on for a while, until the sky started to grow more orange with each passing moment. The village or town Bubble had mentioned was now visible on the horizon, but still a ways off. "Let's rest a little." I suggested, pointing at a big tree in front of us, standing lonely in the middle of the landscape. "We could watch the sun set..."

"Wow, didn't know I was travelling with a romantic!" Kara turned to me, looking surprised. "What do you mean by that?" I asked, feeling strangely tense inside. _Did I say something wrong?_

"I mean this is a great idea. Come on!" With that, she took me by the hand and started running towards the tree, dragging me along.

We sat down and leaned against the trunk. Apparently Kara wanted me to keep her hand, she didn't remove it from mine. I decided to stroke it gently with my other hand, following some inner inspiration. She sighed and placed her head on my shoulder.

Silently we watched the orange disc of light descend more and more towards behind the horizon, painting the sky in a variety of yellow, orange and pink shades. "We could never see something like this at home..." Kara said all of a sudden.

"Yeah, it's beautiful…" I could feel she was worrying about getting back to our world. "Don't worry, we will find a way back." I said, shifting slightly and putting an arm around her. "The game cartridge brought us here, so maybe it will bring us back also. We might just need to recharge those batteries…"

"They were much stronger than normal batteries, right?" Kara asked anxiously.

"I'm sure of that. Opening a portal into another dimension must take massive amounts of energy. You know, the first pair I used was my own. They were too weak, and got depleted in an instant. The ones I used after that have been included in the package…"

"This means whoever gave you that thing knew it would bring you here…" Kara said excitedly, sitting up, "…and that means it must indeed have been the real Alex I saw! This would also explain why he didn't mind me seeing him using Psynergy! In our world, even if I were able to see it, nobody would've believed me, so it didn't matter, and Alex couldn't know I'd end up here as well! I bet he doesn't even know I'm here now!"

"If Alex, uh… wishes to inflict unnecessary bloodshed on us, this might be an advantage!" I paused, then asked: "But what would he gain from bringing us here? I could imagine that he somehow has the power to travel between our worlds, since he has basked in the Golden Sun's light, but I can't see any sense in bringing us here."

"Don't know, maybe he just wanted to test his powers, you know that's exactly like Alex, but if he really plans something involving us, we are bound to meet him sooner or later anyway." She rested her head on my shoulder again. "Do you think our parents will worry about us missing?" she asked.

"They probably will, but I guess that can't be helped. We should worry about that once we're back. At least our chances to get those batteries recharged aren't as bad as they probably were in our world." I patted her arm reassuringly and she looked somewhat relieved.

Then, from one moment to another, she went all stiff and tense. "My arm…"

Oh no! I had touched her injured arm! "Sorry Kara, I didn't mean to -"

"It didn't hurt, Will." she interrupted me quietly. "In fact, it hasn't hurt for quite some time!" She tried to rip the handkerchief from her arm, but I stopped her. "We might need that again, let me remove it."

I carefully removed the bloodstained piece of cloth from her arm. We both gasped: There was no wound!

"How is this possible!" Kara asked in disbelief.

"It seems that you unconsciously used your Psynergy to heal yourself!" said Bubble, who had apparently been sitting on Kara's shoulder all the way! I had almost forgotten about him when we sat down under this tree! He hopped down on Kara's lap to examine her arm. "Good job! Looks like you mastered Ply Psynergy!"

"I don't think one could call that mastered, I can't even control it!" Kara complained.

_Maybe she could, if she can recall the moment when she did it…_Gas said in my head.

_Hey Gas, please come out here so Kara can hear what you say! _I told him.

_You have to release me… wait, here's how you do it…_

Suddenly a new knowledge was there in my mind and I used it instantly to put my Djinni on standby. He appeared in a purple flash of light. Kara jumped, but I soothed her, saying: "Gas has an idea."

"Alright," she said, breathing deeply, "just warn me early next time around…" She turned to the Jupiter Djinni. "Kara, do you remember when it was that you healed your arm and how it felt? It might help you to truly master this Psynergy."

"It must have been when we had just left the battlefield. It hurt so much and I wanted it to stop… After that, the pain gradually went away, but I didn't notice it… Yet I'm sure this helps. Thank you, Gas!"

"I want Psynergy, too!" I said. "Kara, can't you teach me?"

"Sorry, but our kinds of Psynergy differ too much. If you were a Venus Adept, I could probably help you to learn Cure Psynergy… Besides…" she bent closer to me and whispered in my ear: "… I think you already used some Psynergy…"

She glanced at our Djinn, who were obviously very intent on following our conversation. Gas was trying to listen, but he wasn't very successful, because Bubble kept asking him: "Whaddidshesaywhaddidshesay?"

Kara turned back to me, coming even closer and whispered, her voice barely audible: "I was feeling your presence in my mind… when we just talked, leant against each other…"

"You mean… I used Mind Read?" I whispered back.

"Technically yes, but it was not like in the game… you didn't intrude my mind… you merely approached me… forming a connection… it felt good…"

As Kara spoke, I could feel the very bond she was describing forming between us once more, and the desire to put my arms around her and embrace her became incredibly strong, so strong that I finally realized it didn't come from me alone!

"Look, he's blushing!" I heard Gas' voice at the border of my consciousness. "Ignore them…" Kara whispered, affectionately rubbing her cheek at mine. "It would be much worse with the little buggers in our heads…"

"A Cloak Ball would be nice now…" I mused, imagining a picture of two kissing people's outlines in the shadow of a tree.

Kara suddenly started to shake uncontrollably with silent laughter. "I wonder what Babi would do if he knew of our intentions concerning the use of his sacred artifact…" she burst out, giggling like there was no tomorrow. I broke into laughter as well: "You're starting to sound like Alex!"

The two Djinn had no clue what was going on.

"Now you made her cry!" said Gas disdainfully, indicating the tears of laughter running down her face. Kara heard this and burst into a new fit of laughter, sending salty drops of water flying everywhere. "You're so insensitive!" Bubble scolded him. "You always have to make things worse than they are already!"

A long time later, we had managed to calm down somehow and were holding our sore stomachs. "Are you okay again?" Bubble asked cautiously, causing Kara to choke.

Gas was shocked: "Can't you see that they're suffering great pain!" I couldn't help it; I started laughing all over again, begging: "Oh stop, please have mercy!"

"We'll leave you alone for a second," Bubble decided, grabbing Gas' neck with his tail. "we are going to wait over there until you have recovered from this strange affliction. Kara, remember what Gas said earlier when you try to heal yourselves!" He waved with the Jupiter Djinni attached to his tail. Then he walked away with a look of severe worry on his little Djinni face, leaving us lying on the ground in a wheezing heap, gasping for air.

* * *

Kraden's Journal 

**Adepts**

(Game Concept)

Wielders of Psynergy are called Adepts; each Adept is linked to one of the four elements. Usually only techniques from the corresponding element can be mastered. By joining with Djinn from other elements, Adepts can obtain abilities different from their kind, but they will always be better at Psynergy from their natural element.  
The origin of Adepts, long ago, is shrouded in mystery and even today scholars have only vague ideas how the gift is passed on. It seems clear that children of parents who were Adepts often possess the ability as well, but sometimes a person whose parents were both Adepts ends up powerless while somewhere else the ability suddenly manifests in a person surrounded by a village of non-Adepts. In recent years Adepts have been growing scarcer throughout the known world; even the villages of Adepts scattered over Weyard have shown an alarming trend of bringing forth less and less Adepts, giving a bleak outlook for the future of Alchemy. Fortunately, the recent rise of the Golden Sun should save us from such a fate, if we want to believe the old legends.

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Did you like it? Did you? C'mon tell me! 

Chapter 4 has just been finished, BTW, but I won't upload it yet, because I always have this bit of extra formatting to do. When I write this story, I'm working on a single document which I have to cut to pieces now… sniff

If anybody of you wants to see the original file, which includes little pictures of Will and Kara (and maybe others, later…) on top of the chapters to indicate the POV; and different colors for the various character's telepathic voices, just mention it in your review and be sure to include your e-mail address! -gets ready for an onslaught of requests-

See you next time around!

Quizer


	5. Chapter 4

Hi! 

Here comes chapter four! I've made some attempts at humor in this one, tell me what you think! Up to now I had only positive reviews, and if you find reading this as funny as I found writing it, everything will be fine!

Okay, you may start reading now!

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Chapter 4

(Kara's POV)

A good while later we had finally managed to calm down. I had my head on Will's shoulder again and was enjoying this marvellous connection we shared. I snuggled up against him and instantly a wave of delight washed over me: Will's feelings! I was amazed at what emotions such a little gesture can cause.

"You saw that picture I thought up just now, didn't you?" Will asked. As he spoke, it reappeared in his mind and I, too, could see it again. "Uh-huh…" I said, my heart skipping a beat. Did he mean to kiss me?

"Who knows?" Will asked, smiling. "No, actually, it's about something different."

Somehow I felt relieved and disappointed at once, but Will's affection grew even stronger at that._ Its good to know that you're as nervous and confused about this as I am…_ I heard Will's voice in my mind.

_What was your question about then? _I asked the same way.

_I wanted to confirm that we can talk silently, using this connection,_he answered, _but as you hear / sense, we have already done so._

We looked over to our Djinn. They were keeping a close watch on us from afar. I looked back at Will, and both of us nodded, lowering the intensity level of our mental connection - until I stopped abruptly. Will sent a message. "This might be our only chance to do this peacefully for quite some time…" I said and embraced him, hugging him tightly. Will instantly returned the embrace and I could feel the link re-establish between us, confessing our love for each other better than words ever could.

A few blissful minutes later, though, we decided we'd better continue our journey and parted bodies and minds, only keeping our hands clasped together.

We started walking towards where our Djinn were still waiting for us to "recover". Suddenly I realized my stomach was still pretty much sore from that laughing session. "Hey Will, how's your stomach doing?" I think..."

He waved dismissively. "Forget about it. I can still feel it, but there are worse things. Besides," he grinned, "I think it was worth it!"

I shrugged nonchalantly, saying: "Fine, I'm not going to heal you then!"

"What, you could do that?" he asked.

"Hey, what do you think this is!" I returned, poking his abdomen and causing him to let out a yelp. "Minor case of muscle exhaustion, I'd say! This is a joke compared to a real injury! But tomorrow this will really hurt! And I will enjoy every second of your suffering, you ungrateful wretch who rejected my offer…"

"Stop it," Will panted, shaking with painful laughter, "please heal me, I beg you!"

"That's better!" I said complacently, placing my hand on his stomach. I linked up with him again so I could feel his pain as well, thus being able to monitor the (hopefully upcoming) healing process. Concentrating, I focused all my mind on the will to make the pain disappear… and gradually it ebbed away. Ten seconds later, it was completely gone. "Not bad!" he said, rubbing his stomach approvingly. "I could see your hand glowing blue!"

I now turned my attention to my own body. But this time, I focused on _focusing_ first, mustering much more concentration. When I felt I had enough, I released the power in one burst. This time, I could feel the soreness disappear in one moment. But I had summoned much more healing power, which replenished some of my physical strength, making me feel less exhausted.

I opened my eyes again. Will was staring at me incredulously. "Awesome! That looked like a real Ply from the game!"

Even the Djinn had obviously sensed that I used real Psynergy. "Well done, Kara!" Gas congratulated. "Looks like you're getting the hang of it!" Then he turned away from me to resume his conversation with Bubble.

* * *

(Will's POV)

"I think I might actually be able to help you learn Psynergy!" Kara said excitedly. "Look, the idea is not just to concentrate, Bubble was completely right. If you try to Plasma that tree by wanting it to happen, it won't work. But if you focus your willpower first, concentrating on concentrating even more, and then direct your concentration at the target at once, you're more likely to succeed."

"Ah, so that's what the PP in the game are representing!" I said in amazement. "Once your mind is exhausted and you are just too tired to concentrate, you can't use Psynergy anymore!"

"You summed that up quite well, but there's more to it." Gas said (who had obviously listened to our conversation _again!_). "You also have only so much psynergetic power. Once that is depleted, you can concentrate all you want, and even a fresh mind can't do a thing!"

"We appreciate your valuable tips, Gas, but eavesdropping is considered to be rude, and I think this applies to this world as well!" I told him. Gas pouted. "Humph! In your next battle you'll be grateful for every single word I said!" He turned away, looking rather offended.

Kara shook her head at me disapprovingly. "That's not fair, Will. Our Djinn are doing so much for us! Their help is invaluable in battle, but afar from that they are our friends. It's the only thing we can do for them in return, letting them share our thoughts and conversations."

She picked up her little Djinni from the ground. "Bubble, I want you to know my thoughts and feelings, you deserve it." she said, stroking him. "But you should know that nobody can ever be as close to me as Will, not even you…"

The hint of jealousy that had begun to build up inside of me instantly vanished and was replaced by a feeling of guilt about my misjudgement.

Bubble seemed to be confused rather than offended at Kara's confession. "How is that possible? I mean, Will can't be sharing your mind like I do when I'm set to you…"

"Oh yes he can. He uses Mind Read to approach my mind with his. In fact we're so close, our consciences almost form a single entity…"

"I could now tell you something about ancient legends containing something like this, but I'm afraid my comments are not appreciated here…" Gas said, sounding annoyed.

I plopped down to apologize to him, but he turned away.

"I'm sorry, Gas, I hadn't thought about it when I said those things, but as my Djinni, you have a right to know what I think and say. I seemed to have forgotten that you are not a battle tool, but my friend…" I sent my feelings to him to show that I was truly sorry.

"Huh? I thought this kind of communication works only when I'm set to you…" I picked him up and held him to my chest. I could feel the Djinni's affection for me return as it snuggled up against me. _Looks like Jupiter Adepts are an exception to the rule… I am using Mind Read to form this connection. Will you be my friend, even if Kara comes first?_

"Of course I will!" he said, bursting into tears. I comforted him, stroking him until he had calmed down again.

"Can you two really share such a special bond?" he wanted to know. "See for yourself." I said, lifting him above my head. With a purple flash he was set to me again. Kara set Bubble to herself as well.

We looked at each other - and launched in another passionate embrace, letting our emotions flow freely between us once more. _I could do this all day long…_I told Kara, and she smiled knowingly.

_Wow!_I heard Gas' voice, full of astonishment. _Now I know what you were talking about._

_They could indeed be the ones mentioned in those legends… _Bubble answered. Since Kara's mind and mine were almost one, I could hear his comment as well.

_Tell us about these legends. _Kara said.

_Well, I don't know them very well, but they are as old as the other legends of Alchemy's history, some of which you probably heard in your -ahem- game… They told about a pair of warriors, who could accomplish marvellous things through their unity in soul, mind and body… or something like that._

Kara went beet-red. _We… we can't be the ones mentioned in that legend, there's no way we're gonna - …right, Will?_

_Correct. _I said fervently. _We - uh… prefer doing things at a slower pace… Anyway, what do you know about that legend, Gas?_

_Bubble has said everything. This is our combined knowledge already. Though I'm really unsure about what that body part could probably mean…_

_How are we supposed anyway to do something marvellous while - …well, …you know? _Kara asked.

_Good point!_I said, secretly wishing that we could talk about something else…

_I bet you'll know when the time comes…_said Gas, analyzing the situation: _Unity of minds, that's what you're sharing right now… Unity of souls you must've had from the start, considering how fast you became this close to each other…_

_See, I told you all the way they'd look cute together, but you didn't want to believe me!_Bubble butted in. _At this rate it can't take long until they fulfil the part involving the unity of b -_

_Look, _I interrupted, _please don't expect that from us! We simply can't …um …ah …take the responsibility! whew, that's not even lied!_

Bubble didn't seem to listen, though. _Wow __I'm__gonna __see __the legendary warriors!_ he said happily. _Once you've found out how it works, I want to see all these great deeds…_

_NO WAY! _both of us yelled simultaneously.

_Duh! _Bubble said disappointedly._ I thought you'd find the thought of fulfilling an ancient prophecy exciting…_

_I think we've wasted enough time on this subject. _Gas concluded. _I'd say we'd get a move on and resume travelling!_

Glad to be rid of that uncomfortable conversation, Kara and I cut the link and stood up, blinking against the bright sunlight… Hey wait, it's dark! I looked on my watch. Yikes, we had wasted HOURS with our little rest! Well, not exactly wasted, but anyway… Quickly, we didn't pack our stuff together since there was none, cleaned the bloodstained handkerchief in the river and went on walking towards the town, which somehow lacked the level of illumination I was used to…

* * *

Kraden's Journal 

**Djinn**

(Game Concept)

Djinn are little elemental creatures. They were driven away from the Chamber of Stars, which collapsed after the Stars were taken. They join with Adepts, adding the power they embody to them. There are different states a Djinni can be in. When a Djinni is set to an Adept, its body disappears. The Adept shares his or her mind with the Djinni and is able to talk to it. In this state, a Djinni can be unleashed. This activates a special power, which is unique to each Djinni. After that, the Djinni is on standby. It is separate from the Adept again and can talk to others as well. Now it can either be set again (also to a different Adept than before) or summoned. After being summoned, a Djinni must recover and is not available at all. When finished recovering, it will set itself again, usually to the person it was last set to. However, strong imbalances regarding the the way Djinn are distributed between different persons may bend this rule.

* * *

I hope you like this chapter as much as the other ones! 

BTW, this is probably the last update that will come so quickly. You might have noticed that I uploaded a new chapter every day. Alas, now my already written reserves are exhausted and I have to make up the next parts first! That is where your suggestions might come in! Please leave them in your reviews! You can also write suggestions on new Djinn, cause Will and Kara will get new Djinn only. (I can't just let them steal the ones of Isaac & co.!) Please note that the effects are the more important thing about them, making up a name for them is no problem! The need for story ideas is much greater though, so if you like my fic and have an idea how it could go on, tell me!

Thanks! Quizer


	6. Chapter 5

I'm back!!!

Sorry for not updating so long! Your patience is rewarded with an extra long chapter! (I think it is longer than the others…)

Thanks, all my faithful reviewers!!! ^_^ This means a lot to me!

Okay, here is Chapter 5!!!

-----------------------------------

Chapter 5 

"Hey, Will, isn't this dangerous, walking in the darkness like this?" I asked. It was barely anything to be seen, and strange, unfamiliar noises reached our ears from different directions. Will and I had our hands clasped together and were watching our surroundings intently. We didn't want to be surprised by monsters again…

"Even if we could make light, I don't think it would be wise." He answered quietly. "We would be easily visible for all monsters in this area…"

"But maybe our Djinn can help us! Eight eyes see more than four…" We put our Djinn on standby, and they agreed to help us keeping watch for enemies. Unfortunately for us, they appeared in the usual bright flashes of psynergetic light, which immediately attracted two wandering slimes…

"Here they come…" Will whispered, removing his hand from mine. "And we still have no weapons!" I was painfully aware of that, too. "How are we going to attack them? I'm not gonna try if the stuff they are made from is acidic…"

"Ha, I'll show them!" Will said, running up against one of the slimes and kicked out at it. The gelatinous matter they consisted of was more solid than it had seemed, because the slime was thrown back a few feet instead of being splattered into little pieces of jelly. The slime immediately started slithering towards Will again, who retreated to my side. "They are pretty slow," He said, "We could try to run…"

"…right into the next enemy, who might be stronger, no thanks!" I said and aimed a kick at the other monster, trying to mimic Will's technique, but the slime curled up into a ball, and I was barely able to change the course of my attack, avoiding hitting one of the spikes on its back.

The first slime meanwhile closed in on Will again. "You want more?" he asked, approaching it for another kick. The slime however chose to shoot some blue liquid at Will, which hit him on the feet. He barely managed to keep standing. "That's enough!" he shouted, raising his hands above his head: "Jupiter!!!"

Gas, who had sat on his shoulder, became a beam of light which shot skywards. A second later a huge Jupiter Djinni soared down again. It looked different from Gas and seemed to consist of psynergy only. It shot several soaring wind waves at the two enemies, focussing on the uninjured one. Then it disappeared, splitting into three circles of purple light, which faded away.

The slimes, which had been severely slashed by the Summon, apparently couldn't keep their form anymore and dissolved, the green liquid seeping away into the ground. I went to check the "corpses" and came back with eight gold pieces and some leaves, which appeared to be herbs. "They seem to know the good stuff from the bad." Will said, sniffing at them. There was obviously no trace of jelly left on them. Will pocketed them as well as the coins. Then he noticed there was no comment to his statement. "Hey Gas, where are you?" he shouted. "Strange, he should be back by now…"

"He's recovering from being summoned." Bubble said. "You didn't know that and yet you were able to summon?"

"I did know he'd have to recover," Will answered, searching mentally for his Djinni, "but I thought he'd still be there!"

"He will come back and set himself to you, but until then he won't be there to speak with you." Bubble explained.

"That's the reason why you can't trade Djinn when they are in recovery mode, I guess…" Kara contemplated.

"Oh well, I guess I'll have to cope without him for a while, then." He said, then bent close to me, whispering: "Can you believe I miss the little bugger already?"

I smiled. "I can imagine… But now let me tend to your feet…"

"Oh right, I almost forgot. I have no feeling in them anymore…" he said as he plopped down to check them.

"That attack isn't known under the name 'Bone Chiller' for naught…" I retorted, examining them. There wasn't any sort of physical damage, but they were very cold, barely above zero. "You were lucky. If they had really frozen up, that would have been quite painful…" I cast Ply on him, healing his feet as well as some of his physical exhaustion. "Wow, not only my feet are better!" He said, amazed.

"I would think so!" I snorted. "Or do you believe your feet alone can take 100 HP of damage?!"

"I don't think I have 100 HP altogether!" he replied. "We have a good deal of training to do before we can defeat the enemies around here without getting hurt each time…"

"Then we better get started!" I said, looking out for enemies as we walked on. But it seemed that no more monsters wanted to suffer the same fate as the two slimes.

Finally, we reached the entrance of the town. There was no wall, but two steep plateaus on either side left only a little passage through which one was supposed to enter the town. I could see a watchtower with a bell hanging on the top. It was situated on the left-side ledge next to the entrance. "I know where we are!" Will said excitedly. "This is Vault!!! See, over there is the mountain where you get Sap! And that must be the mayor's house! This is the back entrance of the town!"

I wanted to enter immediately, but Will stopped me: "There's something wrong here." He whispered, looking around warily. "It's just a feeling, but I'm certain there is some ugly sort of surprise waiting for us here…"

"That must be some of your Jupiter powers coming through!" Bubble whispered. "Don't take this lightly! Premonitions like this one can save your life, even if they merely consist of an uneasy feeling."

"Let's be extra careful then. I'd say we take an alternate route." he proposed. We went past the tower, but instead of going straight to the middle of the town where the inn was, we went up the stairs to our right. We clasped our hands together. _This path feels safe. Let's go around the town and try to find the source of the danger! _Will said telepathically.

There was no light in any of the houses, the inn being the only exception. Will checked the crate next to the mayor's house, but didn't find anything (of course). But he didn't want to give up already. "Will, quit it!" I said impatiently, as he checked the pile of wood behind them. "You never can search them in the game, but luckily this is reality!" he said, reaching behind the other one. "Hey, there's something here!" Will said all of a sudden. He stretched his arm even more, and finally pulled out his hand again. I gasped: In his palm there was a decent amount of gold pieces, as well as a ring. He handed the stuff to me, saying: "There's more, I'll just get the rest."

"What do you think your doing?!" a deep voice suddenly said behind us. We stood up, alarmed, and I quickly put the stuff in my pocket to have my hands free. I immediately recognized the person in front of us: "You're one of Dodonpa's thieves!" It was one of the men who had attacked Isaac and his friends when they searched for Ivan's lost Shaman's Rod. Later, they had pursued Isaac's party to wreak revenge on them, but they ran into Felix' group and were defeated again. Leaving a pair of Golden Boots behind, they had run off, never to be seen again… at least that's what I had thought up to now…

"Criminals always return to the scene of the crime, huh?" Will asked boldly.

"Hey, who told you I am a thief?!" the guy asked, outraged. Then he realized his own mistake. "Oh well," he said, "you seem to have found my lair anyway. This is gonna be a bit cruel, but I don't think I can just let you leave…" he said, drawing his dagger.

"Do you happen to have another pair of these boots, just in case you lose, you know?" I asked, trying to provoke him. Angry people make mistakes, that's commonly known…

"How the hell do you know – ah, whatever. You don't look remotely as tough as Isaac and Felix, both of which you obviously know! And for your information, I don't have more boots like those! They were quite unique, too bad we had to leave them behind… But yours seem to be rather nice, too…" he said, eyeing Will's sneakers.

Will had meanwhile picked up a stick of wood for defense and positioned himself diagonally in front of me. "I warn you." He said. "Now you can still leave. You won't stand a chance against us. We have the same powers as the warriors you've faced before!"

"You're bluffing!" the thief sneered. "You don't even know how to wield a weapon properly! Come on, you loudmouth! Show me what you've got!" He assumed a fighting stance. "Since I'm feeling generous today, you may deal the first blow! Go ahead and attack me!"

Will sighed. "I wanted to avoid any ugliness, but you leave us no choice… Kara, would you please be so kind?" He stepped aside to clear the line of fire between me and the bandit, speaking to me in my mind: _A Mercury Summon should be enough to show this guy we're not bluffing!_

"Are you such a coward that you need the help of a GIRL to fight your battles for you?!"

Fury arose inside of me. "Are you implying that girls are to weak to fight scum like you?! Sorry, friend, but you just earned yourself some extra humiliation, 'cause I'm going to take you on alone!!" I exchanged a look with Will. He seemed a bit worried, but nodded and gave me his piece of wood. Then he leant down against the wall in a provoking pose and started twiddling his thumbs. 

"You seem to think this is a game…" the thief said. "Let me tell you it isn't. Your life is on stake here!! I make you an offer: Give that stuff back now, and you may go unharmed."

"I offer you the same thing." I said calmly. "I take it you didn't like being in prison the last time here. Leave now and go back to Lunpa or wherever you're from!"

The thief blinked. "You've got some courage, I have to admit that. But that won't help you in battle! Let's see if you can even hurt me!"

I looked at the stick in my hand, then threw it away. "For someone like you, I don't even need a weapon!" I said, putting all contempt I could muster in my voice. "I've had enough, here comes!" I raised my arms above my head and cried: "Mercury!!!"

The Djinni on my shoulder shot upwards in a beam of light. The bandit didn't seem to see it, though. _Of course not!_ I reminded myself. _Ordinary people can't see psynergy!_

A second or so later the huge Mercury Djinni suddenly dropped down and shot four jets of water at the thief, who had no clue about what was going on and was hit full force. He was slammed hard against the ground, but quickly stood up again. He was clearly having problems and was struggling against the weight of his soaked clothes. The large Djinni shone blue once more and dissolved into three circles of light. At the same time, there was a purple flash, and Gas was set to Will again.

"So you haven't lied about those powers…" The thief said, barely being able to stand. "But I'm not giving up yet!!" In one swift movement, he threw his dagger. I jumped aside, but I was hit in the left shoulder. White-hot pain shot through my body and I broke down, my hand moving up to the wound in a reflex.

The thief grinned malevolently. "Hah, I knew you weren't real warriors! Now you wish you hadn't been so cocky, huh?"

Knowing it was my only chance, I gripped the hilt of the dagger, gritted my teeth – and pulled. I let out a shriek of pain, but immediately cast Ply on me. A second later the wound had completely closed.

Will had sprung up in shock when I had gone down. "Kara!!!" I stood again, pretending to be still injured. "I'm fine!" I said, watching the bandit warily. "Don't interfere, this is my fight!"

Will answered mentally: _You've just healed yourself, right? Are you still hurt?_

_Don't worry, I'm pretending. I don't want to catch another of these daggers…_I answered._ Guys like this one tend to have always more than one…_

_Alright then, go ahead, but be extra careful! _He moved back and continued watching the battle. I could feel he didn't like the idea of being unable to help me, but he knew I had to go on after what I had said.

I let my left arm dangle down limply. I didn't want to take more hits like this one, so I decided to play it the safe way. "Don't think you've won already!" I said aloud, trying to buy some time while I was concentrating for my next move. "You may have injured me, but you're not done yet!"

"You can barely stand! Give up already!" he said.

"No way!!! Here, taste this!" I lifted my right arm, releasing my psynergy: "Frost!!!"

Blue psynergetic light gathered and materialized into a layer of ice, enveloping the thief's feet. He lost balance and fell, cutting his feet pretty badly. The ice broke and vanished, leaving the enemy on the ground, panting.

"Will, I need your help now, we've got to tie him up!" I said, walking towards the felled thief cautiously. But I seemed to have underestimated my enemy as well: Suddenly he grabbed my right arm and pulled me down, trying to wrest the dagger from my hand. Quickly, I tried to switch the weapon to my left arm, quitting faking the injury. I succeeded and held the tip of the blade against his throat. His squirming stopped immediately. "No wrong movements now!" I warned him. "Will, we have to tie him up somehow!" I said.

"But with what?" he asked. "I'm not gonna make a knot into my link cable!!!"

"What about… not tying him up at all?" I asked Will, a mischievous grin on my face. I sent him a mental picture of myself, pounding the thief on the head with a piece of wood (from behind, of course). "Go ahead." he said, suppressing an evil grin.

"You're not going to tie me up?" Mr. Thief said hopefully. "Nope." I said. "Will, would you kindly lead him down these stairs?"

Will did so, and I quickly grabbed one of the bulkier firewood pieces, hiding it behind my back as I walked down the stairs behind them.

"How did you do that with your arm?" Mr. Thief asked all of a sudden. "From one moment to another, it wasn't hurt anymore!"

"I think we might actually share that secret with you, if you promise never to steal something again." I said, positioning myself behind him.

Mr. Thief nodded solemnly. "I swear by the seven tools of the bandit that I am never going to steal something again. There! Now will you tell me?"

"Alright, I believe you." I said, imitating someone using Mind Read on him, then making a gesture of someone throwing up. Will, who stood in front of Mr. Thief and had watched the scene barely managed to stay quiet while he was shaking with silent laughter. But our surroundings were pretty dim; Mr. Thief was, too, so everything went unnoticed.

"Now listen closely." I said to him. "The key is focussing your willpower! You need to close your eyes and concentrate, while you repeat in your mind: 'I want to feel better, I want to feel better…' you get the idea? Come on, try it out now."

Mr. Thief closed his eyes, muttering: "I want to feel better, I want to feel better…" Will turned away cautiously and – 

WHAMMMMM!!!!!

He was lying on the ground, a nice lump forming on the backside of his skull. I threw the piece of wood away. "Hehehe, that was fun. Now let's see what else this guy is carrying…"

We found two more daggers, hidden in his sleeves, which Will took (I had kept the one he had thrown at me), a pouch with a decent amount of gold in it, and finally some sort of disc with a hole in the middle, an inch in diameter and apparently made from some sort of whitish mineral or crystal. I could feel a strange power residing in the object.

Suddenly there was a blue flash, and Bubble was set to me again. _Wow, seems like I missed the best part!_ he said, reading from my memories what had happened the last few minutes. _But what have you found there? Let me out please, I've got to take a look at this!_

I did so and he appeared on my shoulder in another flash of light. I held the piece up before him, and he examined it. "This seems to be a psynergy mineral! It's a special stone that bestows a new kind of psynergy to whoever carries it around! I wonder how the thief got this? Now let me see… This obviously is a Jupiter psynergy… Give it to Will."

I gave it to Will, who put Gas on standby and showed him the piece of white crystal. "This is the Detect Disc!!! Use the Detect psynergy, and you can feel the presence of living things in your surroundings. You could use it either to avoid or to seek out enemies when wandering around in the wilderness!"

"How useful!" Will said. "This explains how the thief could know we were there! These items work for non-Adept-people as well! You remember all those incidents when people, trees and other things got hit with them in the game?"

"Of course!" I said. "C'mon, let's go get the rest of the stuff!"

We went back to the mayor's house and picked up the remaining loot, which Will simply put into the pouch as well. The Detect Disc he put into his pocket however, so that could use it when he felt like it. "I'd try it now," he said, "but I'm just tired. Let's turn in for the day."

"But what are we going to do with this guy?" I asked Will.

He shrugged. "Hmm… guess we can't let him lie around, 'cause he'll wake up and run away. I don't know. The only things that are probably open that late are the inn and the sanctum…"

"Let's get him to the sanctum then." I said. Each of us took an arm and so we dragged him to the wooden double doors on the west side of town, went in and closed them behind us again.

"Welcome, weary wanderers. What aid do you seek?" The Great Healer greeted us in the traditional way. Will had to suppress a giggle, and I quickly jumped in: "We need a place for this unrighteous fellow to stay over the night…" I said. "Maybe also a little longer…"

The Great Healer stared. "This is one of Dodonpa's henchmen!!!"

"Indeed he is." I said, trying to imitate Alex' style once more. Will pretended to check on the passed-out villain so he could hide his laughter. "He apparently sneaked around the village, trying to find some unwary victims…" I told him how we stumbled upon the "lair" of the thief and the encounter thereafter.

"…and so we had to, uh… convince him to abandon his evil ways." I concluded.

"Seems he was pretty stubborn, that one…" The Great Healer said, examining the battered criminal. "I believe we have a nice, comfortable prison cell for him. He even won't get wet there when it rains, assuming he stands in the correct corner, of course… What about you two? You have been injured?" He looked at my previously wounded shoulder in concern.

"I have already healed that, it's merely the cloth…"

The Great Healer lifted his arms up. Suddenly my dress glowed white for a moment. When it stopped, the blood had gone and the cloth wasn't torn anymore. "Consider it a small token of appreciation for catching this thief." he said with a smile.

"Wow, thanks a lot!" I said in amazement. "How did you do that?"

"It's a psynergy called Restore." The Great Healer explained. "It is normally used to remove status ailments one sometimes receives in battle."

"Could you teach me that psynergy?" I asked. "I'm a Mercury Adept myself, so I should be able to learn it!"

"I knew that you are Adepts when you entered. Even people who are not linked to the elements can see your Djinn. You should be aware of that. About this psynergy… It is difficult to explain in words how to use it…"

I was not about to give up yet. "What about telepathy?" The Great Healer looked confused. "My friend here can connect our minds using his Mind Read psynergy…"

"Hmm… That might be worth a try."

I took Will's hand, opening my mind for him. Will concentrated, and after a few seconds I could feel a third presence: The Great Healer. In a few thoughts he explained the use of the Restore psynergy to me.

"Thank you!" I said happily. "This will save us a lot of trouble. I didn't cherish the thought of buying new clothes every two days…"

"It's the least I could do for you. Really, you remind me of another group of Adepts who passed through here quite some time ago, catching this bandit and his two fellow thieves… You know, there might actually be something you could do for us… I suggest you get some rest at the Inn, and then come to me again tomorrow."

We thanked him again, left the sanctum and walked the few steps to the inn. Finally we were going to get some rest…

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Did you like it? The next update will probably take some time… I don't push myself, when I'm not inspirated, I can't write something good and I won't write then. At the moment I am inspirated, but typing and making up the story takes its time…

When Chapter six is released, I'll send the new original file to the ppl who requested it!

So long, Quizer


	7. Chapter 6

Hi!

I'm still alive! Chapter six is finally ready!

Enjoy!

-----------------------------------

Chapter 6 

Remembering the words of the Great Healer, we set our Djinn, so nobody would see them, then entered the inn and closed the door behind us cautiously. The innkeeper stood behind the counter. I looked around curiously. Everything looked exactly like in the game. _I wonder if the mint in that crate over there is still around…_

Kara grinned. _Why don't you look? Hehe… Will checked the wooden box… but didn't find anything!_

_I'll show you! I'll eat that mint all by myself, you'll see! _I stepped forward and asked incidentally: "Nice inn, it is. I was wondering what is stored in all these crates and barrels…"

The innkeeper waved dismissively. "Nothing's in there, they're all empty. If you find anything, you can keep it, but I doubt it."

That's all I needed to hear. I walked over to the crate in question and opened it cautiously – and turned over to Kara, saying triumphantly: "Will found a mint!"

I took it out of the box. It was an oversized leaf, and it smelled like mint alright. I could feel it had some mysterious power stored inside. I thought for a moment, then rolled it up and gave it to Kara. "I could never eat it while you have nothing, so please take it."

"Thank you Will! You're so sweet!" she exclaimed, kissing me on the cheek. "But I don't want to use it now, either. Let's keep it until we have one for both of us!"

The innkeeper had obviously watched the scene and was now cursing himself under his breath. To cheer him up a little, I told him: "We would like a room, please."

"Alright. That comes to eight coins!" he said grumpily. Kara touched my shoulder, speaking to me telepathically: _Hey Will, this goes by the number of beds, right?_

I asked the innkeeper. He was irritated, but nodded. I could almost see the question mark bubble pop up over his head…

_So what if we take only one…? _Kara asked, sending me a picture of the two of us lying in a bed, clothes on, curled up against each other.

_Oh wow, yeah, cool!!! Let's do it! _I answered excitedly. Said aloud this would've sounded quite wrong, but our mental connection didn't allow for misunderstandings. It was clear between us that there would be no fulfilling of ancient prophecies tonight…

"One bed will do." I said, removing four coins from the bandit's pouch. "And don't look at me like that!" I added, "We know very well we are too young for what you're thinking!"

The innkeeper's face reddened. "First room on the right!" He quickly took the coins and waved us to go on up the stairs.

The upper floor, which was a big room with three beds in the GBA game, was separated into three rooms by means of moveable wall segments. We opened the door to the first room on the right (there were not even doors on the left, but never mind…) and went inside. The room was small, but quite cosy. There was a bed, big enough for the two of us to lie comfortably next to each other, a bedside table and a round table with two chairs. An extensive round carpet was in front of the bed.

As soon as the door was closed, I let myself fall down backwards onto the bed: "Aaah, REST!!!"

Kara shot me a strange look. "What's up?" I asked.

"You're acting as if it was you who fought the bandit!!" Kara said indignantly, then broke into a smile: "I'm rather exhausted, too! This was probably the most tiring day in my entire life!!" I nodded, sitting up again and removing my boots. "You don't get thrown into another world every day! I'm pretty sure, though, that we will learn to cope with all that travelling."

Kara nodded as she removed her boots as well. "We have to find Kraden. If someone can tell us how to return to our world, it'll be him!"

"Since Isaac and company went back to Vale after Mars Lighthouse, they can't be very far from here…" I said, lying down on the bed and pulling Kara down next to me. "Let's ask around town tomorrow…"

"Yeah, let's do that…" she murmured as I started caressing her back with my right arm, while stroking her face with my left. She nuzzled my neck, sending a pleasant shiver over my body. "To think that twelve hours ago, I didn't even know you…" she whispered, planting a kiss on my cheek. "Now I never want to be without you again…"

Warm happiness spread inside me and I answered: "Kara… the words 'I love you' do no justice to what I am truly feeling for you. This is beyond language…" I signalised her to climb upon me while continuing to caress her. She gently pressed her soft, warm body on mine and I let out an involuntary groan of delight.

"Sheesh… Quiet you…" Kara whispered, grinning. "The innkeeper might get the wrong idea!"

"Screw him…" I muttered sleepily as she buried her face in my neck. In this position we stayed, and I savoured every moment; how our bodies moved against each other with every single breath; how I could feel her beating heart through the layers of clothes; the heat of her body pressing on mine… All the time, she was there in my mind, and the knowledge she was taking the same pleasure out of this made me almost unbearably happy. I started pouring my emotions into her as well, becoming truly one in mind with her…

Suddenly there was a knock on our door. We both jumped horribly and got up, trying to calm down somewhat while we were walking to the door…_ We didn't make any noise, did we?_ I asked Kara confusedly. She shook her head as she positioned herself next to me. _Wonder what's the matter then…_ I thought and opened the door.

On the other side stood a sleepy-looking girl with sky-blue hair. Her eyes widened in surprise when she realized there were two of us standing in front of her. "Whoops!! Sorry, didn't mean to disturb you, I didn't know –"

Kara interrupted her: "What's the matter?! You didn't knock to apologize, right?"

"Yes…" She rubbed her eyes. "Your psynergy doesn't let me sleep!"

"Psynergy?" I asked. "That means you're an adept, huh? But we didn't use psynergy. Not besides Mind Read, that is…"

"I don't know Mind Read, but I suppose it can't be very powerful regarding the amount of concentration you need…" she said. "But what I felt was a tremendous power… I know only of one person who holds such power, but you aren't him…"

"The power you two radiated was great enough that everybody in this village who is an adept must have sensed it!" That was a new voice! I looked more closely at the girl to see that a Venus Djinni was sitting on her shoulder! She took him in her hands so we could look at him. "This is Root, my friend. And I'm Lilly. We have to know how you did this…"

"Wow, a Djinni!" I interrupted. "Hey Root, what's your special ability?"

"You know about Djinn?!" Lilly asked surprised.

"Of course we do!" Kara said and both of us put our Djinn on standby. "Many people have Djinn, don't they?" she asked.

Lilly shook her head. "Afar from the Great Heroes, few people are able to impress a Djinni so much that it would join them…" She patted the Venus Djinni's head. "Root here has been with me only for a few hours. I rescued her from some non-adept men who tried to catch her against her will…"

"Her?" I asked.

Suddenly there was a shout from downstairs. "Silence!!! This is an INN, people come here to SLEEP!!!" The voice grew quieter, mumbling incoherently about "meddlesome kids…"

"Let's continue inside…" Kara suggested. We went into mine and Kara's room and closed the door behind us. Kara and I sat down on the bed; Lilly kept standing.

"Of course her!" Lilly said. "Something wrong with that?!"

"Bubble and Gas are both male, that's why we were a little surprised…" I defended myself.

"What's that supposed to mean?!" Gas asked indignantly. "Of course you didn't think all of us are male!"

"Well," Kara said, squirming. "In our game, Djinn were genderless…"

"Totally weird game…" Gas muttered.

"A game with Djinn?" Lilly was thrilled. "You MUST tell me about it!!!"

"That's a long story…" I yawned. "You wouldn't believe us anyway…"

Lilly didn't give up that easily, though. "Tell me anyway!!!"

I decided to discuss the matter with Kara: _Should we tell her our story?_

_Not now…_ came the answer. _Not yet. Let's ask her a few things first, where she's from and what she's doing here. We'll see whether to trust her or not._

We turned back to her. "Maybe later." I told her. "We'd like to know a little more about you first."

"Hey, did you just use psynergy to communicate?" she asked curiously.

"You're a smart girl!" Kara said. "Must be difficult to hide something from you… Yes we did. Will uses Mind Read to connect our minds, enabling us to speak by sending thoughts to each other."

"That's fascinating!" she exclaimed. "I bet you can even talk without language, just using pictures and emotions!"

"That's what we were doing when you knocked on our door a few minutes ago." I said, blushing slightly. "But we didn't know we were emitting such strong psynergy…"

"Aw, come on, you must have felt it!!! Root didn't even exaggerate when she said every adept in this village must have sensed it! It was overwhelming!!!" She gestured wildly with both arms. "WHAT exactly have you done?!"

"We really don't know what we did, but we do know _how_ we did it." Kara said. "Look, we'll do it again, and you'll watch us and tell us what you see, alright?"

_I don't feel very comfortable about this…_ I told Kara.

_I know. _came her reply._ I don't either. But it shouldn't be too difficult just to focus on each other, don't you think?_

I couldn't help grinning. _I guess you're right! I love you so much, Kara!_

She climbed onto my lap and embraced me. All of a sudden I didn't remotely care that we were being watched. I put my arms around her and gently pulled her close, resting my head against her shoulder. As I started to stroke her back, I intensified the connection like last time, sending to her all my blissful feelings and receiving hers. Drawn together by our love and affection, our consciousnesses more and more merged into one. Suddenly, Kara's memories were my memories as well, and I could remember events from her life back at home. Somehow I knew we had reached some sort of threshold, but neither of us did know – or care – how to go on from that point. After some time we lowered the power level until we were two separate people again. Still, a passive kind of connection kept lingering between us.

We opened our eyes – and saw Lilly staring at us in utmost awe. Her mouth stood wide open and she looked as if she had seen, well, something real frightening. Like, for example, Alex losing his temper…

"What ARE you guys?!" she breathed when she finally regained her speech. "What did you see?" I asked eagerly. She waved her arms in despair, struggling to find words. "You glowed… pulsated with psynergy… incredible power…" she stammered.

"Calm down…" Kara said soothingly, taking a step towards her, but she backed away, fear in her eyes. "Stay away from me!!!"

Kara stopped dead in her tracks, a sad look on her face. "What's wrong?" she asked pleadingly. "You don't have to be afraid of us…"

Our Djinn, who had watched from the bedside table, jumped down and we picked them up. Gas snuggled up against me, whispering: "I'm still your friend, Will. Your power frightens me, too, but I know you would never use it to hurt me…" I lifted him up to my face and hugged him awkwardly, grateful for his trust and affection. I looked to Kara. She wiped away a tear, kissing her little Djinni on the head.

"That's not very nice, Lilly!" Root said, jumping down and facing the girl. "You asked to see their power, now you must answer their questions, too! Besides, they didn't do anything wrong! Or do you want to blame them for sharing a love that strong that it affects their surroundings?!"

She turned around. "I'll trust you. As Lilly said already, my name is Root, and unleashing me allows all of you to draw energy from the earth, making you regenerate health throughout the battle!"

"Neat!" I said, bending down. "I'm Will and this is Kara. These are Gas and Bubble. I guess they can explain their abilities themselves." We put our partners down and the three Djinn started chatting excitedly.

"I'm sorry." Lilly said, approaching us. "I was scared by your power because of something that has happened to me…"

She walked past us and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I guess you know that Vale has been destroyed." Both of us nodded and she went on: "Well, I experienced its destruction very closely… I'll tell you my story."

She took a deep breath. "I am from Lunpa, north of here. Two days ago, I went to visit relatives of mine in Vale, but nobody was there, the village was empty. They have this huge psynergy stone at the center of the plaza, though. I decided to use it to search the town. You see, my mother was from Vale herself, and I inherited her Venus psynergy. So I used the stone to magnify my power, searching for any signs of psynergy around me, not finding anything, though. Suddenly, there was a huge explosion and I was swiped off my feet and knocked out by the shockwave."

She shrugged. "I don't exactly know ho long I was unconscious, must've been a couple of hours. When I awoke, I was still in front of the psynergy stone, but everything around me was gone. A huge crater is now where Vale was before, with Mt. Aleph in it's middle. Only the ground behind the psynergy stone that forms a line away from the center of the blast was still there. It looks like the crystal absorbed most of the power. I healed myself and decided to come here, since it's the closest town. Now I have no idea where my grandparents are, though. They are probably still alive, since the town was empty already before the explosion, but I have no idea where they could be or where I should start searching…"

"Why don't we travel together then?" Kara proposed. "We are looking for Kraden the scholar, so basically we're both searching for Vale's inhabitants!"

"I know Kraden!" Lilly said in excitement. "What do you want from him?"

"We want to ask him to help us get back to – uh… home!" I told her.

"And where is your home?" Lilly asked curiously.

"Well, that's the problem." Kara answered. "Our home is not on Weyard…"

"WHAT?!" Lilly asked incredulously. "You want to tell me you're some kind of aliens?"

"Thank you." I said ironically. "No, I'd rather say we're from a different world. We got here by accident… more or less." I exchanged meaningful looks with Kara. "Since Kraden is the greatest scholar around here, he might be the only one who can help us to get back."

"If you're not from Weyard, how do you know so much about it?" Lilly objected. "I mean, you know about Kraden, you have Djinn, you are even adepts!!! Makes no sense to me…"

"In our world, there is a series of games set in Weyard." I started explaining. "It starts with Isaac's departure in Vale. I suppose you have heard of him?"

"Of course!" Lilly said indignantly. "I knew him a little. Before he went to recover the elemental stars, I had seen him a few times. My grandmother told me the whole story, what had happened in Sol Sanctum that day…"

"Yeah, and the two of us know these games very well. In fact, we should pretty much know what has happened in Weyard up to this point. How long has it been since the rise of the Golden Sun?"

"About one and a half day…" Lilly contemplated. "But how comes you are here? People aren't supposed to frequently travel between worlds, you'd think!"

"You know, the early afternoon of today, back at my home, this fellow named Alex appeared. He is from here also." Lilly shook her head. "Never heard of him." I continued: "He gave me something which he said was the third game of the series. Well, when I tried to play it, there was a bright flash. When I awoke, I was in a forest north of here. Kara had tried to stop me. Because she had touched me, she was transported here as well…"

"I'll show you what happened directly before the destruction of Vale." I said, pulling my GBA out. I removed the dud cartridge and switched it for The Lost Age. "Oh dang, I don't have any working batteries!" I suddenly remembered.

Lilly meanwhile stared at the GBA in awe. "This is definitely NOT from Weyard!" she said. "May I look at it?"

"Sure." I said, handing it to her. "Just be careful, this is our ticket back home!"

She took it from my hand and examined it carefully. "What does it do?" she asked.

"In our world, it is solely used for entertainment. Stored on these cartridges are games. You just put the one you want to play into this slot. To play, you also need batteries." I showed her a pair. "Electric power is stored on them. Think of it as a very weak form of lightning. It constantly flows through the system and powers it, once you turn on the power. Unfortunately these are all empty…"

Kara tipped me on the shoulder. "Why don't you try to charge them?" she asked. "You should be able to use some sort of electric-based psynergy."

"I need to try that." I said. Raising my hand, I moved my index finger and thumb away from each other and concentrated. _Luckily I've always paid attention in physics lesson…_ I thought, mentally trying to push all those little electrons upwards. Moments later, I could feel a tension build up between my fingers, until there was a flash and a tiny bolt of lightning was visible for a second.

Feeling more confident, I produced a stable current this time which resulted in a constant arc of electricity. "Way to go!" Kara said proudly.

"I don't think I can charge them this way, though. It is still way too powerful, the batteries would be destroyed." I put them back in my pocket and tried to think of another way.

"What if you use the ones Alex gave you?" Kara proposed. "I don't think you can ever overcharge them!"

"Good thinking!" I said approvingly, taking them out. I put them between my fingers and repeated what I had done before. This time, I could feel the batteries absorb my power. After a while I stopped, feeling a little drained, but the batteries seemed still rather empty. I shrugged and put them in, then turned on the power.

"WHOO-HOO!!! It works!" Lilly squealed. Indeed, the power bulb was green and the usual logo appeared on the screen.

"I'll show you the end of the game. This will tell you what has happened directly before the destruction of Vale." I started the second file, which was immediately before the Doom Dragon. I quickly defeated it (no prob for my party, hehe…) and we watched the credits.

Lilly gasped when she saw the figure of Felix (He didn't fight in the battle, because the GS 1 crew was much stronger…). "Isn't that Felix? I thought he was dead!"

"He isn't dead. The day of the storm three years before Isaac's departure, nobody died. Felix is alive, as is Isaac's father Kyle and both of Jenna's parents." I told her the story how they were held in Prox to force Felix to light the Elemental Lighthouses. I also told her that the world would be slowly withering away if the lighthouses hadn't been lit. Together we watched how the final Lighthouse was lit, how Alex got the power he wanted (or rather thought he got it), how the crew returned to Vale and finally the reunion with Garet 's family and Isaac's mother Dora.

Lilly was stunned at the pictures on the screen. To her, the GBA seemed like a miracle. "How does this thing work?!"

"Sorry, I don't know. I'm not that much into electrical engineering…" I said, shrugging.

"How can this thing know what had happened?" she continued asking.

"That I don't know either. The only explanation I could think of is that there has been some travelling between our worlds before…"

"…and whoever made these games must've been here also!" Kara concluded. "But does that help us?" she asked.

"Probably not." I shrugged again, turning the GBA of and putting it away again. Lilly looked at it kind of disappointed…

"So will we travel together?" Kara asked her. "We don't mind helping you, since we don't have anything to do anyway here! Besides finding Kraden, of course…"

"Alright, it's decided then!" Lilly said, grinning. "I guess I'll leave you two alone now… See you downstairs tomorrow!" With that, she left the room, careful not to shut the door too quietly. Just when we turned to each other, the door opened again. "You know, I think we might actually become friends!" Lilly said, grinning broadly. "Goodnight!!" She waved at us with a mischievous look on her face, then left, finally leaving the two of us alone.

Kara immediately dropped down onto the bed. "I'm done for today." She breathed. "I can't remember having ever felt that tired!"

I only nodded, crawling under the blankets, next to her. "Goodnight…" I murmured, curling up against her and closing my eyes. "Goodnight Will…" she whispered and kissed my cheek. I returned her kiss, let out a content sigh  – and thought no more.

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PS: all you guys who want the original file, please tell me so again, I'll make a list with your emails and send the file to you whenever I add a chapter.

please review

Quizer


	8. Chapter 7

Hi people!

This chapter took me quite some time, huh? 

Thanks to Vyctori Windheart, who helped (and is still helping me) with the plot developments!

But now go on and read that chapter already!

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Chapter 7 

     (Kara's POV)

The first thing I felt when I awoke the next morning was the warmth of Will's body. He had one arm wrapped around me and his breath fanned my neck every time he exhaled. I decided to do nothing; I wanted to keep floating in this dreamy state between sleeping and being awake…

A little while later, however, I felt the pressure of Will's body next to mine become stronger. He snuggled up closer to me and I realized he had to be awake. I opened my eyes. He was smiling at me affectionately. "Good morning!" he whispered.

"Yes it is." I said, also putting an arm around him and drawing him into a tight embrace. "Good to know that you've slept well, too." Will chuckled. "I can't believe what those few hours of sleep did for me."

I peeked at his watch. It showed 8:12 AM. "I wonder when Lilly usually gets up." I said, brushing a lock of hair out of Will's face. "Do you think we've still got time?"

"I do hope so!" Will said indignantly. "I remember she was pretty tired as well…"

"Sounds fair enough to me…" I turned over and came to rest diagonally on top of him. Just as I pressed myself a little stronger against him, there was a muffled cry and I felt something obstructive and spiky between us. I reached for the unknown source of the noise – and pulled it out of between us.

"You nearly suffocated me!" a familiar voice said reproachfully. Bubble was dangling limply from my hand, clearly looking like he just got the shock of his life. "Never try something like that again!"

"Hehe, I warned you!" Gas' amused voice came right next to my ear, making me jump. "I told you it'd be dangerous right between them! But you just had to go and get squashed. Look at me, I'm still allrmpfh!!!"

I decided to shut him up by rolling back left. After a  few seconds of silence, I rolled back onto Will and picked up the Jupiter Djinni as well. Just when I was about to start telling them off for disrupting our quality time again, there came a noise from the door. I dropped the Djinn on the corner of the bed and rolled off Will again. I looked at the wooden door and saw what seemed to be Root passing right through it!

"Good morning, you two!" she said when she was completely on our side. "Lilly told me to check on you. She's already downstairs, waiting for you. Hurry up and come!" The Venus Djinni lost no time and touched the door again, melting into it and disappearing.

"Arrrgh… looks like the lenient part of this journey is over…" I grumbled as I got up, then reached out to Will. He took my outstretched hand and pulled himself up as well. We set our Djinn, shared another embrace and finally opened the door to go downstairs.

A surprisingly awake Lilly greeted us from one of the tables. We joined her and Will asked: "How comes you are up already?"

"Usually I get up even earlier." Lilly said casually. "Dad said once in his profession it's not very healthy to sleep too deeply anyway…"

"And what profession would that be?" I asked, reaching for the butter.

Lilly leant in closer to us. "Look, I don't want to say it too loudly, some people here might get the wrong idea of my father. But you have probably heard of Dodonpa, the humble thief?"

"???" We stared at Lilly. Finally Will spoke up. "No offense, but if you're talking about the same Dodonpa we know, 'the vicious thief' would be more appropriate…"

"Ah, yes." Lilly said. "You probably know only of the incident when Isaac and his friends came into our fortress to rescue Master Hammet." We nodded. "Well, after that, my grandpa Donpa imprisoned him in the cell where he had kept Master Hammet. He had a lot of time to think down there. When he was finally released, he was a changed man. Lately, I get along quite well with him…" She paused, lost in memories. "When I was born, he was disappointed that I was a girl, so my relatives tell me. He thought I could not become his successor. But I was trained nevertheless in the arts of thieving, and after a while he realized that my gender would not stop me from becoming a great and noble thief. However, until the reputation of my father changes, I'm very reluctant to call myself so."

"I bet Lunpa would be proud of you!" I said, taking a bite from the bread I prepared during Lilly's speech. "He must be worrying about what's going on in the town he founded, unable to reach it from Lemuria…"

"You mean my great-grandfather is still alive?!" Lilly asked incredulously. "I've heard tales of Lunpa and Babi travelling far ago… So they did find Lemuria?"

"Uh-huh." Will confirmed, finishing his slice of bread. "Lunpa's appearance is that of a man maybe ten years older than you dad. They have this draught in Lemuria, it considerably slows the process of aging. But when Isaac and company told him about your father's wrongdoings, he got a little tempered up…"

Lilly laughed. "I can imagine that… Lunpa the noble thief still alive! Grandpa will like to hear this…"

We finished our breakfast and paid, then left the inn. "So where are we headed?" Lilly asked. "Any good ideas where to start?"

"We won't leave immediately." Will explained. "We still have a little business in this town. You know, we encountered one of your father's men yesterday…" He told her the story. As Lilly listened, she seemed to become more and more enraged. "That fool!!" she fumed. "He acted against Dad's orders!! This town should've been left in peace! Oh, wait until I have some talk with him…"

With Lilly still ranting about, we went to the sanctum. The Great Healer was ready as ever. "Ah, it's you. Follow me. I'll lead the way." We watched as he locked the wooden doors behind our group. "They stole from this sanctum once, that's why I have to lock the doors when nobody's inside. It's a pity, though. These doors should always be open, to anyone… But who's your new friend there?"

"I'm Lilly, and I'm gonna have a word with that scoundrel, too!"

"Hmm. That should be possible." He stopped in front of the steel door behind which the prison was located. "Look, I'd like you to interrogate that criminal. Find out where he stole the things you've found yesterday, or maybe where he left his two accomplices. I figured Mind Read would be very useful for that purpose. You shouldn't have any problems."

He opened the door and went ahead inside the little cave that was separated into three small cells. Our Mr. Thief was held in the rightmost one. He approached us when he realized he had visitors. Apparently, the Great Healer had patched him up, his injuries and the damage done to his clothes were gone. But he seemed a little damp instead. _Looks like he didn't stand in the correct corner…_ Will thought gleefully and pointed out the puddle of water that was forming at his feet.

"Hello." I said casually. "Sorry about yesterday. We just thought we had to put you somewhere to protect people from you – including yourself. Then it occurred to us that this town always has rooms especially for this purpose…"

"The reason we're here is that we have a few questions to ask you." Will went on. "It is very simple: The more accurate and true your answers are, the earlier you will be left to your solitude again. Don't lie too much, it will only make matters more complicated."

Lilly stepped forward. "Question Nr.1: Why the heck did you choose this village?"

The criminal seemed to recognize that voice.

"Lilly? Is that really you? Are you going to get me out of here?" he asked hopefully.

"Unfortunately, you get to safely rot in this cell some more!" Lilly said through clenched teeth. "If it was for me, you wouldn't get away that easily!"

"Now back to my question!" she continued. "Vault had been declared protected by my father after the incident with Master Hammet! I assume you know that you acted against my father's orders!"

Mr. Thief was clearly confused. "I never heard about anything like that! Are you sure this is correct?"

Lilly seemed ready to explode any second now. Will stopped her, whispering: "Look, I think he was too busy chasing Isaac all over Weyard to take note of that." He told her of the thieves' encounter with Felix near Madra.

"WHAT?! That's even worse! You had no permission to undertake such a journey!" Lilly sighed in exasperation as she slumped down against the wall. "Boy, is this guy thick…" she muttered under her breath. "He's a lost cause… let's see if we can at least get something useful out of him. It's your turn now."

"Looks like you got yourself into quite some mess." Will stated. "But nevertheless, let's get back to the questions. Kara, you ask him."

"Alright, question Nr. 2: Where have you left your sidekicks?"

The thief snorted. "I don't need those amateurs, I planned to do this one on my own…"

"Tch… look who's talking…" Lilly muttered under her breath. Will nodded, also confirming Mr. Thief was telling the truth. Or at least what he thought to be the truth. I decided to move on.

"Okay, next one. Now we'd like to know where and how exactly you acquired the stuff we found in your 'lair'…" I asked while I could feel Will preparing his psynergy.

"The money I earned fair and square, by hunting monsters!" the thief fidgeted. "And the ring I found in some sort of ruins during my travels…"

"So you robbed the money off poor travellers on your way, and the ring you stole from a citizen of this here town!" Will said, disgusted.

The thief went pale. "How did you guess that?" Will grinned. "It's all a matter of interpretation, so you might as well tell us the truth from now on."

"Wait a moment, please." The Great Healer interrupted. "That ring you are talking about, would you mind showing it to me?"

I pulled it out of my pocket where I put it last night. Since then, I had forgotten about it already. It was a massive ring in a silver color, with a green, spherical gem set into it. "This is my Regeneration Ring!" The Great Healer exclaimed. "It speeds up the healing process on sick or injured people! I usually give it to patients who otherwise would need my continuous attention, which I cannot afford when more people need my help…"

"That means he stole it from a sick person!" Lilly was furious. "How are they supposed to get better now?! And taking money off travellers is as bad! Now they can't even pay for an overnight stay at an inn! This is cruel!!! Even a thief doesn't do things like those!" She kicked out at a wall in her fury, her Venus psynergy making the whole prison shake. "With guys like you, it's no wonder our lot has such a bad reputation…"

She turned to the Great Healer. "Shouldn't you check on that sick person?"

"Don't worry, I will. It has been some time since I gave her the ring anyway, she might already be well again. And I also think we have learned enough here. We shall leave him to think about his wrongdoings."

"Yeah, alright." Lilly said. "But one more thing: Do something about that lock."

All of us, Mr. Thief included, looked at her confusedly. She removed a hairpin from her head and stuck it into the lock to the cell, twisting it around somewhat. _I never noticed those…_ I told Will who was thinking along the same lines. Barely a second later, the lock clicked and the door swung open a bit. "This is way too easy." she explained. "Even someone as dense as him will figure it out eventually."

"Hey! Stop acting like I was a complete moron!" The thief complained. "I'm not stupid!" He lunged for the now open door, but Lilly held up a hand in his direction, shouting: "Quake!"

A brief tremor shook the prison and Mr. Thief was thrown violently off his feet. We had no problems keeping standing, though. Apparently, the quake had only a small range in which it was strong. Lilly quickly locked the door the same way she unlocked it before.

"Nobody ever said you could leave!" she shouted, putting the pin back into her hair. One could only see it if they looked out for it, I noticed.

She turned to the Great Healer again. "I tell you, this won't do to keep him in this cell. He might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he does possess some moderate skill. He did steal that stuff successfully, after all…"

"How did you do that?" the Great Healer asked, intrigued. Lilly smirked. "Trade secret… but don't worry, not everybody who can do this is as rotten as him…"

We turned to leave, but Lilly faced Mr. Thief once more. "One final piece of advice." she said in a serious tone. "Fear the day you get out of this cell. Dread it, 'cause it won't be pleasant for you." Having said that, she joined us and we left the prison together.

 "I'd like to thank you." the Great Healer said outside. "Your help was invaluable… especially that hint with the lock… I'd like to give you this."

He gave something to Will and we looked at it. It was the Regeneration Ring!

"I can't take this." Will said resolutely, returning it at once. "You need this for your job! I will not take this from you."

"Then at least take this." He reached inside of his robes and pulled out a reasonably heavy bag, filled with gold pieces. "These are some of my earnings. Go and buy yourself some decent armor. None of you seem to be properly equipped. No discussions!" He insisted as Will opened his mouth, trying to refuse again.

"Thank you!" Will finally said. "I guess we really can use that…"

"I wish you luck in your travels!" the Great Healer said. "Farewell!" With that, he turned around and left to check on his patient.

(Will's POV)

As soon as the Great Healer had disappeared, I opened the bag and the three of us curiously looked into it. Inside was an awful lot of coins. "Reckon it would take quite some time to count that…" Kara said with amazement in her voice.

"Hey Lilly, I suppose you've already seen big amounts of cash." I said. "Can you roughly guess how much this is?"

"Hmm…" Lilly looked the bag with an experienced eye, sizing it up. "This is much more than 1500 coins, quite a small fortune. Maybe close to 2000, if there aren't any big pieces in there."

"Big pieces?" I looked more closely at the contents. Some of the coins were considerably larger than the normal ones and also had small numbers like  five, ten and twenty on them. It seemed that the weight of the big 20 coin piece indeed equalled twenty of the smallest coins.

"Wow, you will definitely get decent equipment with that!" Lilly said, then added: "At least when you consider the not-too-extravagant selection of this town…" Kara and I shot her questioning looks. "Well, you probably know they have way better stuff down in the big cities like Kalay and Tolbi…"

"But there is always the artifacts section…" Kara proposed. "Maybe Isaac left some of his good stuff here…"

Lilly shook her head. "Sorry to burst your bubble, but you'll need at least a five-digit sum if you want to decently shop in the artifacts section…" Her eyes went dreamy as she continued: "They have an original Grievous Mace from Tolbi Springs in my hometown… I could feel my psynergy resonating within it… One day, I'll own that weapon, that's my big dream…"

"I can't believe how smoothly all of this went, considering that this is no fancy game but reality!" I said to Kara, who nodded. "Yeah, I thought that money of Mr. Thief was a blessing already, but I guess we wouldn't have gotten very far with it. Which reminds me…" She reached in her pocket and removed the handful of gold I had given her before the fight. "Since we all earned this money together, let's also put our money in one pool." she said, dropping the coins into the bag. I emptied the thief's purse into it as well.

"I don't have much to add, though…" Lilly said regretfully, showing what was approximately fifteen coins. "That's all I managed to win off monsters on my way down here…"

"Doesn't matter," I reassured her, "you helped earn this money as much as we did and apart from that, neither of us has an amount of gold that can even remotely compare."

"You think I helped that much?" Lilly asked doubtfully.

"Of course!" Kara said. "Especially that hint with the lock was very useful; you know, that criminal has already escaped from this prison once!"

Lilly's face brightened up. "Really?" She dropped her coins into the bag. "Okay, then let's go and buy us some equipment!" she exclaimed, speeding off towards where the shops were. Kara and I couldn't help staring at her. "C'mon, what are you waiting for?!" she yelled, jumping up and down frantically.

"Her mood sure does change quickly…" Kara whispered amusedly as we joined hands and slowly walked after her.

---

That one's a little bit short again, but that's because I cut the chapter I was working on in half. That means I already have part of the new chapter eight. Maybe it will be out within a week already. But I can't promise! I do promise, though, that the new chapter will be written in Lilly's POV! In the meantime you can go and review this chapter ^_^

See ya, Quizer


	9. Chapter 8

Hi people!

Here's chapter eight, as I promised! ^_^

Wait, I didn't promise, but never mind that now…

Go on and read it already! ;)

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Chapter 8 

      (Lilly's POV)

Excitedly, I ran ahead and stopped just in front of the weapon and armor shop. I felt happier than I had felt in ages; it seemed that my whole life was slowly getting into order. I hadn't been a very happy girl only a few months before, but Dad had finally come to his senses and I suddenly had a father I could identify with and even turn to when I should need advice. Naturally, the long time we hadn't talked to each other more than the very necessities was still a sore spot for both of us, but we were definitely getting over that.

Not only that, I also found friends I could really trust. I knew I could fully rely on Will and Kara, as I could also feel their trust in me. Most people didn't want to get to know me more once they found out about my social background or the skills I possessed. But Will and Kara were different: Most of my companions at Lunpa Fortress would've rather split up that money instead of sharing it because they wouldn't trust others enough…

Suddenly I sensed a burst of Will's and Kara's combined Psynergy, not unlike the ones last night. _Seems somewhat weaker, though…_ I thought.

That moment, as if on cue, their aura grew stronger and their love and devotion for each other was once again palpable. I sighed; last night already I had felt a good deal of good-natured jealousy at their display of affection. _They are such a cute couple…_ I thought. _I wonder… Will I ever find a love as strong and true as theirs?_

_Don't worry, I bet you will._ Will's voice suddenly popped up in my head, making me visibly jump and turn around. The same moment Root started giggling uncontrollably in my mind. _You're losing it, Lilly, _she laughed, _you were so deep in thought you let those two sneak up on you and Mind Read you… Wait till I tell someone… Lilly the great thief caught by surprise…_

I decided I wouldn't have my good mood ruined by Root's comments. Instead I asked Will, thinking: _What makes you say that?_

_Well, you are a nice person, and you aren't exactly ugly either… _came his reply. _I'm afraid I can't predict your future or something even though I heard sometimes Jupiter Adepts have premonitions… But I don't think I'm experienced enough for that sort of stuff…_

_I agree with Will, though._ Kara's voice appeared as well. _You must have really tough luck if you can't *steal* the heart of a decent guy…_

I was just about to tell her what I thought of that pun when an image appeared in my mind for a split second: It was the face of a boy about our age; he had short red hair with a tint of orange in it and his eyes were an emerald green. I had to admit to myself that I found him rather good-looking. _Too bad_, I thought, _that this figment of my imagination has no heart to steal…_

"Lilly!" Will's voice suddenly pierced into mind, interrupting my train of thought. "Snap out of it!" I blinked several times and looked at them confusedly. Apparently our mental connection had been severed the moment I saw this image.

"Are you okay?" Kara asked. "All of a sudden, we were thrown out of your mind…"

"Hehe, serves you right!" I said not without glee. "It wasn't me, though. I just saw a picture in my mind… You didn't send me anything, did you?"

Both of them shook their heads and I nodded; I had not really expected they had. "What kind of picture was it?" Will asked curiously.

"It was a face…" I said, the image reappearing in front of my inner eye. "Something was strange about him… maybe he's an Adept as well… Could it have been a vision? Like… a premonition?"

"Look, you need to be more precise about what you saw if you want my opinion on it." Will said flatly. "But as I said, I had no personal experience with visions and premonitions…"

"You had, yesterday night, when we took the detour to the Mayor's house." Kara interjected.

Will contradicted her. "But that was merely a feeling, no real vision."

"Well, I can recall this image really well…" I started again.

"Then why don't show us?" Will suggested. "Did that person look that evil?"

I gave a small laugh. "Nah, not quite! I think he looked rather nice…" Only after that I realized what I had said and I blushed. Kara smirked: "I understand… Are you sure you don't want to show us?"

"C'mon, that's nothing to be embarrassed about, you deserve to be happy, too!" Will said, noticing my face. "Let's all hope it was a true vision!" He bent closer to Kara and whispered audibly: "That'll keep her from bugging us all the time…"

Kara giggled. "But now let's take a look at the store, shall we? We don't want to be standing here forever!"

Nobody objected, so we entered the shop. I wanted to head to the weapons section right away, but Kara stopped me, saying: "Let's look for some armor first, we've got weapons already!" She briefly explained about the daggers they had confiscated from Mr. Thief the day before.

Reluctantly I turned back and joined Will and Kara as they stepped up to the left counter. "How may I help you?" the armor salesman asked.

"I'd like some armor for me and my two friends." Will answered.

"Ah yes. I believe we have just the perfect thing for these lovely ladies…" He turned around and opened one of the crates behind him, taking two sturdy-looking green pieces of cloth out of them. "Travel Robes! Just got them in yesterday!" He held up one of them so we could look at it from all sides. "Alas, they are a bit pricey compared to the standard Travel Vest, being 300 coins apiece…"

Will looked at me as though he had been insulted. _Is this his idea of a joke?!_ his voice appeared in my mind, sounding insulted. _In the game, they were only two hundred!_

_They are 200 coins usually._ I told him. _I've been to Bilibin twice already and the vendor there always sold them for two hundred. 300 coins is utterly ridiculous!_

_Is it common practise to barter in this world?_ Kara chimed in.

_More so in the southern cities than here._ I said, remembering a trip to Kalay when I was younger. My mother had still been alive back then, and she had taken me there to teach me the arts of negotiating. She had always believed one could achieve a lot with words only. Sadly, I hadn't been too successful, though. Seemed that I had inherited Dad's temper…

_Maybe this guy thinks he can pull a fast one on you, since you're new in town. _I finally said.

_Not with me, though!_ Kara said determinedly and gripped Will's hand more tightly_. Same procedure as with Mr. Thief! Okay, here we go…_ She took a step forward. "I have certainly misheard. Never mind though, I'll take both of them for 300 gold."

I watched as Kara started to haggle with the merchant. I quickly realized she had a special talent for this. "Look at this fine quality!" the shopkeeper struggled. "You will find that 300 coins is a fine prize indeed, even if it appears somewhat high…"

"Hmm…" Kara said thoughtfully, a shrewd look on her face. "I'll consider what you said. Let's talk about something else in the meantime. Assuming I wanted to sell some of my possessions here, I would receive the usual 75% of the buy value. Is that correct?"

The salesman nodded. "Yes, of course." He said, not quite grasping what Kara was getting at. Kara smiled confidently and relaxed. "In that case, we will have to postpone our business until this evening." The brown-haired, bearded man looked at her confusedly. "Will, Lilly, we're off to Bilibin. We're going to buy our Travel Robes there. This money…", she weighed the bag with her hand thoughtfully, "…will get us about eight to ten of them. The spare ones we will sell here. That's a margin of 25 coins each!"

The shopkeeper sneered. "You're bluffing! Without armor, you won't even survive halfways through the Goma Cave!"

"You sure?" Will asked confidently. "C'mon people, let's go." We turned around to leave, but as expected, the armor salesman shouted: "Wait! I make you a special offer: Both of them and this here Circlet for 500 coins only!" Will started glowing purple, a second later Kara did as well. She started negotiating with him again, while Will kept reading his mind. In amazement I watched how Kara pressed down the price more and more and finally bought two Travel Robes, a Wooden Armlet and a Circlet for 580 coins!! She really had a way with words…

Will took out his bag of money and paid, which took quite some time. The shopkeeper stared greedily at the bag, obviously asking himself what kind of fortunes were still in there. "Unfortunately, we don't carry heavy armor, so your only choice is the Travel Vest…" he said to Will. "Unless…"

He turned round again and removed a piece of chest armor from an armor stand. It consisted of flexible plates of metal and looked pretty lightweight. "This Full Metal Vest offers excellent protection and at the same time does not encumber your movements in battle. For only 1400 coins, it's yours!"

_Was that thing that expensive?!_ I heard Kara ask silently. _Nah, don't think so._ Will answered. _Can't remember the exact price, though. Wait a second, I'll just look it up._

"We'll need a little time to decide." He walked a few steps away, to the place between the two counters where he was out of sight for both men. He took out the purplish-blue thing with which he had shown me the moving images and kept looking at, occasionally pressing a few buttons. A minute later he turned it off again and put it away, joining us again. _1100 coins is the official price!! What a fraud!!_ He said in disgust.

"I carefully considered this offer and came to a conclusion." Kara said, pausing for effect, then abruptly changing her tone to an angry one: "This is ridiculous!!! You know as much as we do that this is worth no more than 1100 gold pieces! I'm willing to pay that, but not a single coin more! Otherwise we'll take a Travel Vest for 50 coins! Now please make up your mind, we have a quest to pursue!"

The shopkeeper stared at her in disbelief for a moment, then he regained his composure. "I underestimated your judgement. I shouldn't have done that. Accept my apologies. The Full Metal Vest is yours for 1000 coins."

"That sounds acceptable." Will said and the shopkeeper broke into a grin. They quickly exchanged money and goods.

"Well, since you did drop off a lot of cash here, you'd normally get some Game Tickets, but I believe you'll find these more useful. He reached under his counter and pulled up three backpacks, which he handed to Will as well. "Now please excuse me for a moment…" With that, he reached under the counter yet again and retrieved a sign with the inscription: "TEMPORARILY CLOSED". He set it up carefully and then disappeared into the back of the shop. Soon, we heard strange pounding noises, probably the sound of a hammer.

"Okay, now let's check out the weapons!" I said to my friends. "But first show me what you've got already, I daresay I know a little bit about weapons…"

Will and Kara removed three daggers from their newly acquired packs. I removed them from their respective sheaths and looked them over.

"These are plain old short swords." I said, indicating two basic-looking blades. "Very short short swords, to be more precise. The next thing in line would be a kitchen knife." I slid the tip of my finger over one of them and examined the cut. "Mediocre quality." I went on and healed the wound without a thought.

"That one's different, though." I showed them the third weapon which was slightly longer and had a red handle which was adorned with wave carvings. It also featured a vicious-looking pointed blade. "This one seems older than the other two, but is in much better shape! It might have a special power, but even if it hasn't, it will surely achieve a much higher price than these – OUCH!!"

I had just done the finger test again. Will and Kara gasped at the weapon which had been halfway through my finger before I knew it. Unfortunately the weapon salesman's attention was now on us as well. "You okay?" I quickly put my injured finger in my mouth and mended it so he couldn't see it. A second later, I removed it showing him I was alright. "Only joking! See?"

The shopkeeper wasn't convinced yet. His eyes darted to the blade which bore a distinct red stain, but Kara reacted quickly, whispering: "Restore." The sword gleamed as if hit by a stray beam of sunlight and the blood was gone thereafter.

The bald man stared intensely at the sword for another second, then looked away, finally minding his own business again. _That was close!_ I conveyed to the others. _We aren't supposed to show our Psynergy to outsiders!_

_Yeah, I know._ came Kara's voice. _I remember having read something like that in a book in Vale…_

_My grandparents have that book, too!_ I said excitedly, but then I remembered Vale didn't exist anymore and I sighed. _I wish I could show you around Vale… It's so sad it's all gone now. Vale has always been a second home to me…_

_Vale will be rebuilt._ Will said with such certainty that I actually believed him. _I bet they can get rid of the crater with a few rounds of Grand Gaia…_

_Yeah, and with the limitless power of the Psynergy stone it's not even going to take long!_ Kara added, obviously liking the idea.

_What is Grand Gaia?_ I asked, confused.

_Psynergy._ Came Kara's reply. _The most powerful known Venus Psynergy, to be more precise. It unleashes the earth's might itself upon the enemy._

Suddenly, I saw moving images in my mind: A great chasm suddenly opened up on a grassy plain. A golden glow emerged from it and enormous chunks of rock started shooting out. After a while, the rift closed again and disappeared. _That's what it looked like in the series, _Kara explained,_ but I can't see why it shouldn't be possible to use it like this:_

Another picture: I was standing in front of the Mt. Aleph crater (or at least what Kara thought it looked like). I was facing the Psynergy stone, eyes closed and arms raised towards the sky. As I watched, the ground began to tremble. Then shake. The tremor developed into a violent, ongoing quake. Suddenly, portions of the ground below me started springing up abruptly, forming bumps on the otherwise perfectly rounded surface inside the crater. The image stopped there, but thought further, it was clear that the crater would eventually be levelled.

_Do you think that works?_ I asked them hopefully. _That would be so awesome, restoring Vale to its old beauty…_

That moment the shopkeeper's voice cut through our thoughts again: "Now if you wouldn't mind, please stop miming and make up your mind whether you want to buy something or not!"

We jumped, realizing how strange our faces and gestures probably seemed, all without talking a single word. Will peered into our bag of gold. There were only about 150 coins left.

"We decline." he said briskly. "Good day to you."

Meanwhile, the hammering noises had stopped and the armor salesman returned from the back of the shop. As we watched, he placed a sign in front of his counter went to fasten it to the floor with nails. "NO BARTERING" it said. Kara shot me a meaningful look and I had to turn away quickly to keep myself from bursting out laughing. Quickly, we left the shop.

Outside, we started by equipping our newly acquired armor. I put on my armlets while Will removed the Full Metal Vest from his pack. "Isn't this thing heavy?" Kara wanted to know.

"Not for a piece of armor." I said as we watched Will close it around his chest. He moved around a bit and said: "I think it's a little heavy."

"Have you ever worn armor before?" I asked him. He shook his head. "In our world there are no monsters. People don't need to protect themselves when they leave their cities."

"See, you're just not used to the extra weight." I said. "Within a week you won't even notice it anymore."

Kara had meanwhile put on her circlet and I had to admit it looked good on her. Will seemed to think so, too, because he was staring at her with a dreamy expression on his face…

"Now to the weapons!" she said, taking out the three blades again, complete with sheaths. "I guess we'll have to draw straws to decide who gets the better one!" She plucked some of them from the grass at her feet.

"I've already got the best armor, so one of you gets the sword." Will decided and took the straws from Kara, throwing one away.

"So who'll choose?" he asked, holding his hand out. "Lilly does." Kara said, not really bothering. _This'll be so easy!_ I thought, stepping forward and examining the straws with a confident grin on my face. Within seconds I knew which one was shorter – as a Venus adept I drew part of my powers from plants, thus I had received extra herbology lessons when I was young. _Makes this look like a joke!_ I thought as I made my pick.

"Okay, you get it." Kara said after comparing the lengths. She didn't seem very disappointed. Each of us fastened their weapon to their belt.

"Now we need a place where we can change into these!" I said, holding up my Travel Robe.

"Why don't you go back to the inn?" Will suggested. "I guess our rooms are still empty. I'll wait for you here."

So the two of us started walking back to the inn, but not before Kara had placed an affectionate peck on Will's cheek. I couldn't help smiling at the utterly happy look on his face. Remembering the image of the guy again, I thought: _I hope I'll find out fast whether this was prophetic… It had better be…_

---

Okay, so that was chapter eight! Next chapter, they'll finally leave Vault…

I'm on a huge writer's inspiration wave! Maybe I can keep getting 'em out quicker now…

I'm only writing this for my own fun and thus I write it the way I like it, but that has proved rather successful… But you can still make suggestions! I could need a few pointers on the background I'm going to give my Mars Adept. As you can see, I've thought one up for Lilly, but I still need one for… him. Come on, leave your suggestions in the reviews!

Thanx

Quizer


	10. Chapter 9

Hi people, I'm back!

This chapter took me quite a while, due to some unfortunate (and unexpected) changes in my private life. Thanks to all of you who waited patiently for this chapter!

And, of course, thanks to all my reviewers! This story seems to be quite popular already!

Okay, now read that chapter, the Lord knows you've been waiting for it!

=============================

Chapter 9 

       (Will's POV)

A short while later, Kara and Lilly returned. Lilly was wearing her Travel Robe visibly, but Kara apparently wore it under her dress. _Got the same idea, huh?_ I asked her, grinning, because I, too had decided to wear my armor under my shirt. "This'll be a nasty surprise for anyone who thinks to make quick work of me!"

"Good thinking!" Lilly said. "With armor as thin as this one it might actually work!"

"Are we all set?" Kara asked. "Finally, let's get going then. They probably have built some sort of provisory camp while they make plans for their future. Let's search the area around Vale." We intertwined our hands again and left Vault through the north gate.

Nothing particular happened during the first hour of walking. Lilly kept asking curiously about details from our homes and we explained all we could to her, hoping to help her at least a little in understanding a world so different from hers one could barely fathom.

At some point we spotted a slime in the distance and Kara and I ran off to it, slicing it apart with two sword swipes. I picked up the coins and we rejoined Lilly, who had resumed walking as if nothing had happened. "Having fun yet?" she smirked. "Go ahead and practice using these toys a little, you might need it later."

Meanwhile the bridge across the river northwest of Vault had come into sight. We crossed it without further interruption and soon reached the forest south of the mountain range behind which Vale was situated. _Or rather what's left of it…_ I thought.

 Suddenly there was a rustle in some bushes to the left and we turned around to see a pair of zombies stalking towards us in an alarmingly quick pace.

This time, Lilly drew her weapon, too. "I'll go after the right one!" she shouted before we launched into battle.

With a cry I leaped forward and tried to slash my enemy across the chest, but he(?) / it anticipated my movement and danced back, letting me only inflict a shallow cut. It didn't even take note of that, though and hit me with the left claw in the side. My new armor took the blow, but I was still swiped off my feet. The zombie aimed another swipe at my head, but Kara countered with a backhand stroke which cleanly severed the hand from the wrist. It bounced harmlessly off my head and turned to dust. Again the zombie didn't seem to realize it was injured. The wound didn't bleed either, instead an unpleasant smell of rotten flesh started to spread.

I changed my tactics and launched myself forwards, putting all my strength in the next blow against the monsters leg. I managed to cut through, but barely. I smashed to the ground again, as did the zombie who suddenly couldn't support itself anymore with one leg only. That was Kara's signal: "Frost!" she yelled and the monster was enveloped in a layer of solid ice.

I got to my feet again, not ready to leave the foe out of my eyes yet. Before I got to think about what I would do with that frozen corpse, though, the ice shattered with a loud ringing noise and the zombie turned grey and crumbled to ashes, the evil power which had kept it alive finally defeated.

We turned around to see how Lilly was doing – and stared at her in surprise. She was standing there in a relaxed pose, obviously having watched us for a while. Her opponent stood ten feet away from her, pinned harmlessly against a tree by her sword. "Just thought I'd watch and see how you do." she said, shrugging. "Excellent teamwork, you two!" she added, perfectly ignoring the futile efforts of the monster to break free, which were accompanied by grunt noises, claws swiping through the air and the sound of steel cutting through flesh.

"I'll just finish this." she finally said when she felt the noises were becoming too violent. She sauntered over to the tree, dodging the claw swipe the monster aimed at her head upon her approach. After putting a foot on the monsters chest, she pulled her sword out and backflipped away just in time to avoid the next swipe. She moved away a bit further, probably thinking of how to finish off her soulless (and apparently chanceless) enemy as impressively as possible when something unpredictable happened: Her sword suddenly hummed with a vibrating sound and blue rays of light gathered in it from all directions. Lilly stared in terror at the weapon in her hand as power alien to her own started surging through her body. The zombie seemed to sense Lilly's state of shock and advanced, but Lilly fortunately got a grip on herself and directed the blade at her foe.

Out of nowhere, water appeared on the forest floor and rose about a foot high. Strangely enough, my feet didn't get wet and I could still move freely.

To the zombie, however, the water was not a mere illusion; its advance was temporarily hindered and as we watched, two waves rose out of the sea. They quickly grew into towering lances of water as they closed in from either side and finally crashed together, catching the enemy in their midst. "Dreamtide…" Kara and I whispered simultaneously as the water faded away.

Lilly's foe had been barely fazed by the attack, though, as undeads were generally resistant to water and Lilly's low water power didn't really help either. It immediately resumed its attack on Lilly, who was supporting herself on her sword, panting heavily and clearly not ready to fight back. I racked my brain for something that might help her. I briefly considered throwing my weapon, but I figured I might as well end up hitting Lilly with it. _Psynergy!_ I thought, desperately trying to think of something that would get her out of this predicament. _Will, quick!_ Kara's voice entered my mind, along with a picture…

"Slash!!!" I shouted, thrusting an arm into the zombie's direction. Purple wind waves shot out with high speed and sliced into the enemy at different angles, knocking it away from Lilly. It turned gray and disintegrated just like its companion.

We collected the gold the zombies had left behind and went over to Lilly. She was sitting on the ground. "Are you okay?" Kara asked in concern. Lilly nodded. "Just a little exhausted."

The sword lay beside her. I picked it up and examined it. "So this is the Pirate's Sword…" Kara muttered.

"You know this weapon?!" Lilly asked disbelievingly. "Why didn't you tell me right away?"

"We didn't know." I said. "We just recognized it because of its unleash."

"Unleash?" Lilly looked at us in confusion.

"This weapon has a special power, as you already suggested it might." Kara started to explain. "This is called an unleash. As far as I know, they are always linked to one element."

"But I'm a Venus Adept!" she protested, picking herself up from the ground. "Why did I just produce a water-based attack? That was…" She broke off, struggling for words.

"Most unsettling, Alex would probably say." Kara smiled. "You are by no doubt a Venus Adept, but that doesn't mean you can't use other kinds of Psynergy. You just won't do very well at them, as you might have noticed."

"Let me guess: You know this sword from your game?" Lilly asked.

"Exactly." I said. "The Pirate's Sword is worth 2000 coins, boosts attack power by 34 and unleashes Dreamtide, which may send the foe it hits to sleep."

She arched an eyebrow. "Attack boost of 34?"

I grinned. "Well, at least in the game…" I passed the GBA over to her. The shopping dialogue was still visible. Lilly pressed a few buttons. "Hmm, 34 is not all that much, is it?" she inquired.

"It is, compared to those!" Kara said, lifting up her short sword. "They only got eight!"

"But look here!" she said. "This one says 210!"

"That's the Darksword, one of the most advanced weapons." I explained. "You don't get them until the very end of the game. With a power rating of 210, this sword is the sharpest of all, so to speak, but its unleash is another thing. It's not exactly crappy, but rarely anybody considers it the best weapon there is. The unleash is what really makes a weapon strong or weak."

"Still, this is in much better hands with you, Kara." She gave the sword to her. "I can't have this unleash thing interfere with my battle routine, it's much too unpredictable."

Kara looked at the blade in her hands with awe. "You sure you don't want it?" she asked the blue-haired girl.

Lilly rolled her eyes. "Come on, you saw it! A normal blow would have been far more effective!"

"Really? Thank you!!!" Kara exclaimed with joy, handing her old sword to Lilly, who returned the GBA to me before she fastened it to her belt. "That was scary, feeling this foreign power in me…" She shuddered. "If we ever find a Venus-aligned weapon, we can talk about this unleash stuff again…"

"Come on, let's go." I said and she picked herself up from the ground. I took Kara's hand into mine again and we set out to continue our journey.

"You must've had training sessions back home, it was really amazing how you dealt with that zombie." Kara remarked. Lilly grinned sheepishly. "I guess it was before my sword started messing up… I was taught how to fight at home. Not just to defend myself in the wilderness.  As a thief, it's vital to be able to fight, just in case the sneaky stuff doesn't work…"

She left the path and kicked out at a random tree alongside it. There was a yellow flash at the impact and the tree suddenly vibrated violently. "Like, for example, in a case like this." she said casually. There were some rustling noises and a figure tumbled down, hitting the ground in front of the tree. It was a young man about my age, with flaming red hair and green eyes which stared at us in surprise and confusion.

Lilly seemed to recognize the stranger: "You?!"

He looked even more confused. "Have we met?" he asked as he sat up, gingerly touching the back of his head and checking for injuries.

"No. Not yet." Lilly said matter-of-factly. "Don't worry, you're fine." she added as he continued to check over his body. She cast Cure on him. "There. Just to be safe."

"Why did you show me your Psynergy?" he inquired. "I thought you're supposed to keep it a secret…"

"Well," Lilly began counting off at her fingers, " First, you've been up there at least since the zombie incident, so you've already seen plenty of Psynergy. Second, we are only supposed to hide it from outsiders, not from fellow Adepts and third, I just thought your health was more important right now. Sorry about that."

"No, that's quite okay." he said hastily. "But how would you know that I'm an Adept, too?"

Lilly grinned even broader. "First, I can sense it. There's something special about you. I even had some sort vision of you this morning. I know that as a Venus Adept, I'm not supposed to have visions, but tell that to the people out there who are responsible for that sorta thing."

The boy closed his mouth again, having wanted to point out exactly that, and Lilly took a deep breath before she went on: "Second, you gave it away when you said you could see Psynergy. Ordinary people can't see Psynergy, only its effects. And third…"

That moment there was a bright red flash on his chest and I figured that was a Mars Djinni which has just been set to him. Lilly made a gesture at the spot where the flash had been. "Third. Djinn tend to set themselves to Adepts only."

The boy chuckled. "You sure you aren't a Jupiter Adept?" He got to his feet. Lilly watched him warily but didn't interfere.

"I'm Lance, from Prox, and this," he put his Djinni on standby, "this is Aura. But I don't expect you to believe that I'm mainly here because I was bored back home."

"Actually, I do." I said. "I can tell that you're not lying, even without reading your mind. I'm Will and this is Kara." To Lilly I spoke mentally: _What about you? Do you trust him?_

Lilly blushed. _He's the one I saw in my vision this morning! Do I have another choice?_

"What did he say?" Lance asked. _This guy is way too smart!_ I heard Lilly's voice again.

_What? You think someone who's as smart as you is dangerous?!_ I was amused.__

_Definitely._ Lilly sent back. She turned back to Lance. "He asked me whether I trust you." she answered, going crimson.

"Is that a yes?" he smirked, indicating her face color.

Her eyes flashed dangerously, but her face wore an indifferent expression. "No, I'm merely disappointed." His grin faded and made way for a look of utter confusion. "You're cute, it's a shame we'll have to get rid of you now…"

He went pale and looked at Lilly in horror and the three of us burst out laughing. "That look," Lilly panted, doubled up with laughter, "it was priceless!"

Lance made a sour face. "Aww…" Lilly cooed, putting a hand on his shoulder and pinching his cheek with the other. "Don't worry, you're safe. We won't kill you..." Lance blushed and Lilly continued: "…yet." Then she burst into laughter again.

Lance pouted then sighed. "Well, I should be thankful. You did get me out of my predicament with the zombies. They were after me. Around my hometown, the monsters are a lot tougher, so I thought I wouldn't have problems with the local ones. But I've depleted my Psynergy in the recent battles and Aura still had to recover from the last summon…"

"Yeah, you really saved us!" Aura squealed. "Nice to meet you guys! I'm Aura and unleashing greatly improves a person's attack, defense, speed and resistance against Psynergy!"

We put our Djinn on standby, too and everyone was introduced. "How did you meet Aura?" Lilly wanted to know.

"I ran into her a few hours ago. There was this really scary guy with blue hair, and he was trying to capture her. He was a Mercury Adept and incredibly powerful. I wouldn't have stood a chance fighting him head-on. Aura made me unleash her and with that speed boost, I was able to run."

"Very powerful, hm?" I took out the manual I was given back home, showing him a picture of Alex. "Is that him?"

Lance nodded, looking at the picture in awe. "You know him or what?"

"Regrettably, I do. This is Alex. An unpleasant fellow…"

"This is Alex?! The traitor?!" Lance' eyes widened. "Who betrayed us Proxians, saying he'd help us light the Elemental Lighthouses when in reality he was only using everybody for his own scheme to gain power?! And this is supposed to be him?"

"Uh-huh. He's got the power of the Golden Sun in him. I think you're lucky to have survived." Kara said. "Do you know where he went?"

"I don't want to know… not anymore." he responded, now positively shocked. "I suppose, though, that he's headed to Vale Crater. There's nothing else around here." He sighed. "I considered following him, but I don't want to anymore."

"We are going that way." I shrugged. "We're looking for the residents of Vale. I suppose they've built some sort of settlement in this area." Why don't you come with us?"

His eyes lightened up. "Do you mean it?"

"We could also leave you out here in the forest…" Lilly said slyly.

"I'll go with you! This will be fun!" Lance sounded excited.

Lilly had meanwhile given Root to Lance and taken Aura in return to look at her more closely. She held the Mars Djinni to her chest, enjoying the pleasant warmth the creature seemed to give off and completely oblivious to what was happening around her. Root was perched on Lance shoulder, whispering things about Lilly into his ear, to which he listened with rapt attention.

Kara and I turned away, trying to conceal our grins. _Cute, aren't they?_ Kara nodded, smirking. _Wonder how long it takes them…_

_Not long…_ She smiled wickedly. _I'll see to that…_

_Wanna play matchmaker?! Count me in!_

=============================

Yay, the party's complete now. Sol Sanctum coming up soon! (Don't ask why, you'll see soon enough…) Believe it or not, I actually have a plot for this!

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Some people asked some things in their reviews:

- When will Isaac and company appear?

Maybe they'll appear at some point in the closer future, but they won't join forces, 'cause Isaac's and Felix' parties are way too strong right now.

- Is this a mudshipper?

Look up the prologue, the pairings are in there before the actual story starts and everything written there still applies. I still need to add Lilly/Lance, though…

- Will Freedan show up, too?

Hehe… He will. But nobody of you will ever guess how or in what role! *cackles evilly*

- Update soon?

I'll do my best! (And that takes its time…)

Thanks in advance for reviewing! (I should get myself a muse to say these things for me… *snickers*)

The next chapter will be from Lance' POV!

So long

Quizer


	11. Chapter 10

Yay!!! Chapter ten, finally! I regret the fact this took me so long, but please know that I don't plan to abandon this story anytime soon! This will be continued,

however long it takes me between chapters.

Have fun reading this one!

Chapter 10 

       (Lance' POV)

"What's so funny?!" Lilly demanded to know all of a sudden, interrupting my thoughts. I looked up to see Lilly glaring at her two smirking friends. They were obviously exchanging thoughts again; both of them emitted faint blue and purple glows respectively. _They are talking about us…_ I figured. _How unfair. I can't even hear how they make fun of me…_

"They do that all the time, you better get used to it." Root whispered in my ear. I took the Venus Djinni in my hands to look at her. "Did you read my thoughts?"

"I can't do that unless I'm set." The Venus Djinni chuckled. "But it was quite obvious what you were thinking…"

Will and Kara had stopped and were squirming under Lilly's accusing stare. "We were only wondering if you're ready to leave!" Kara defended herself, trying vainly to conceal her grin.

"In that case, why didn't you just ask?!" Lilly said triumphantly. "We've been ready for ages, right Lance?"

I nodded fervently, trying to keep a straight face. Will nudged Kara, sending her another thought to her and burst into a new fit of giggles.

Lilly grinned apologetically and we walked onwards. As we moved along the path, I became more and more appreciative of my surroundings. Sunlight shone through the treetops above our heads, creating illuminated spots on the ground. I figured forests like this one were pretty common around here, but beyond the northern reaches trees were scarce – even more so after the harsh Psynergy-induced winter.

"You don't get this in Prox, do you?" Root asked quietly.

"No. I've never seen something like it before." I answered, taking in the scenery.

"But I bet you've seen other things!" Lilly joined in. "Have you been to the Lighthouse?"

"I never really was inside it. I went there once with my uncle. We went into the entrance hall, but it was completely frozen over, and neither of us did dare to go in further. The monsters, you know? I'm no coward, but there'll be plenty more opportunities to die… and more pleasant ones at that."

"I guess Prox eventually gets boring if you live there all your life." Will contemplated. "I can see why you left. I'd want to see something of the world, too, rather than sitting at home all the time without something to do…"

"That's why I snuck on this winged ship, so I could get out of there!" I grinned. "I guess it was not much of a wise decision, but I don't care. Adventuring with you guys is going to be loads of fun!"

"You've been on the Lemurian ship?!" Will was surprised, to say the least.

I smiled wryly. "It was a nightmare. I hid in some cramped storeroom and I nearly got sick several times. I took some rations with me…" I indicated my backpack, "but I couldn't risk bringing a weapon. Too bulky and too much noise…"

"How are things up there, anyway?" Kara asked. "I understand that the rift has stopped growing, but will it ever go away?"

"It disappeared shortly after the ignition of Mars Lighthouse. It's completely gone." I told them, remembering the sight from the edge of my hometown. There was even a bit of green to be seen in the perimeter of the Lighthouse!

"I guess some of the energy released by the Golden Sun was used to heal the land…" Kara said thoughtfully, carefully pulling away a the branches of a bush that was obstructing both the path and our sight. "Hey Will, look!"

Curious, I peered through the hole as well. Another clearing opened up in front of us, and in its center was a group of three rodent-like creatures. They were bluish-colored and carrying what appeared to be forks! They were frolicking around, unaware of us watching them. Occasionally one of them would playfully poke the others with its weapon.

"Vermin, huh? Are they dangerous?" Will asked. "They look rather cute!"

Lilly snorted. "Let's see if you still think so after they try to plunge those things through some of your vital body parts!"

"Whatever, we'll see in time. You ready, Gas?" Will set his Jupiter Djinni, nodded at Kara, and both of them stormed out into the clearing, drawing their weapons and emitting cries of war. I caught Lilly's eye and both of us laughed as we ran after them.

"Gas!!!" Will cried, raising his weapon above his head. The Djinni appeared above his head, glowing purple. Green unhealthy-looking gas clouds surrounded the enemies, making them choke. Even after they disappeared, the monsters still emitted green puffs of smoke with each breath. Lilly had already come to a halt next to Kara and yelled: "Punji!!!"

Bamboo lances shot out of the ground, stabbing two of the Vermin and doing some serious damage. I raised my hands as well and shouted: "Mars!!!"

Aura on Lilly's shoulder shot skywards in a beam of light and the summoned spirit appeared in a swirl of heat. It dived down on the uninjured one and tackled it, reducing it to cinders and sending small fireballs flying, some of which hit the other two foes as well. As it disappeared in the usual fashion, Kara aimed a sword swipe at the rightmost of the remaining enemies. Her blow connected, opening a large gash on the monsters belly. It fell over before it turned gray and crumbled to ashes.

I was facing the last enemy. It was already very much weakened by the poison and Lilly's attack, but it still managed to thrust its weapon out at me with amazing speed. I jumped back just in time; the tips of the fork-like weapon poked my vest, but I was unharmed. The monster suddenly made a choking noise, then it grayed out, too, having exhausted it's last reserves.

I took the gold the monster in front of me had left behind and we gathered around Will, who took out a bag. Everyone dropped the money they collected in. "So you put your funds together, huh? Wait a sec…" I removed my backpack and took my purse out. "I knew I wouldn't be back for a while, so I brought my savings along. Just remember to get me a weapon next time we're in some town."

"Sure thing!" Will said as I poured my gold – about 400 coins worth of money – into the container.

"Hey Lilly, how comes you can cast Punji?" Kara asked. "I thought that technique is unique to the ninjas…"

"Most people are surprised when they see that attack." Lilly admitted. "I guess it's not very well known. It doesn't seem to be that special to me, though, except that it tends to hurt a little more than Growth and Thorn."

The forest's edge was already visible from the clearing. Soon, we were walking in the warm sunlight again. "Why did those Vermin crumble to dust?" Will asked while scanning the area for new victims.

"They always crumble to dust!" Lilly pointed out "What did you expect would happen?!"

"Well, I expected it would just die and leave its dead body lying around." Will fidgeted. "But I admit, it's pretty convenient like this."

"Yeah," Kara chimed in, "bet it saves those decomposing microorganisms lots of work!" She ignored the strange look she received from Lilly. "Anyway, does that mean that if, in some unfortunate circumstance, I met my demise, I'd disintegrate like that too?"

Lilly shrugged. "I wouldn't know. I never killed an adept. I never killed any human for that matter. But we could always try…" She grinned evilly. "Any volunteers, Lance?"

I sighed and hung my head down. _That's the third death threat today. My luck is certainly improving…_

Fortunately, Lilly decided to get serious again: "But why they disintegrate in the first place? I don't know."

"I guess it's because of the Psynergy." Everyone looked at me, urging me to go on. "These monsters have once been animals, they were corrupted by Psynergy. I suppose that this power is set free when the creature dies, and since it has nowhere to go, it devours the remains of the monster and turns them into ashes. Some scholar explained this to me once."

"You seem to show a lot of interest in the workings of Psynergy." Will stated and I nodded: "I want to know as much as I can about Psynergy. The whole Lighthouse business shows how great Alchemy's influence on this world really is. Also, more knowledge means I can use my power more efficiently. I guess I might become some sort of scholar myself."

Suddenly there was a red flash on Lilly which told me Aura had just returned. _But why had she been set to Lilly?_ Lilly was quite surprised, too. A red glow kept lingering around her about a second longer before fading away.

"Wow, what's this?" she asked. "I feel different!"

"Your class changed." Will said. "That comes with a number of changes."

"My class?!" Lilly echoed.

"I'll explain." Will sat down on the dry grass and we followed suit. "First off, I can only tell you what I know from our games, and I don't know to what extent these mechanics correspond to reality. Even the most complex model can only be an imperfect and incomplete image of its real counterpart."

"We're not from Weyard." Kara explained, facing me. "We know so much about this world because we've got these games." Will took the strange thing out of his pocket which I had only seen from afar earlier. "They're covering the journeys of Isaac and his friends up to Mars Lighthouse. We are here because of an accident. Yesterday at that time, we didn't even know this world exists. We want to find Kraden the scholar, he might know something on how to return to our own world."

"I suppose that sounds pretty weird." Will said. "Believe me, it is. You are free to bombard is with questions later. But first, I'll explain about classes."

He turned to Lilly. "Lilly, you're a Venus Adept as such able to harness the earth's power. In the game, each Adept is given a base class which determines your Psynergy abilities and your stats – numbers the game uses to measure your strength, agility, physical and mental endurance and even luck."

"For example, I think it's safe to say I'm a Water Seer, like Isaac's traveling companion Mia." Kara elaborated. "That means I'll master the Psynergy series of Ply, Frost, Ice and some status removing spells."

Will went on: "It also means that she'll be neither exceptionally strong or quick in battle, but she has reasonable endurance and she can use awesome amounts of Psynergy before exhausting her reserves. And she's very lucky."

"Wow! You can tell all that?!" Lilly was amazed.

"What exactly do you mean by 'Psynergy series'?" I asked.

"Let me explain." Kara said. "Back in the prison, you cast Quake on the thief to prevent him from escaping, right Lilly?" The blue-haired girl nodded. "Was that the best you could do?"

"Of course not!" Lilly huffed. "I didn't want to get us buried alive, as much as I had liked to make him suffer a little more…"

"See? You can use the same type of Psynergy at different strengths!" Kara said. "In the game, there are three levels of most spells. For example the stronger forms of Quake are called Earthquake and Quake Sphere. They do more damage and hit more enemies." Will showed her the purplish thing, which had the name Isaac and a list of Venus Psynergies on it. "Of course they are also more difficult and tiring."

"But back to the classes." Will said. "The aforementioned base class can be changed by setting Djinn of a different element than your own. Regardless of what your old class was, your current class is a Brute – hey, no need to get all worked up, I didn't make up the names!" Will defended himself as Lilly's face turned into an expression of outrage. "But don't you feel stronger now?"

Lilly stood up, drawing her sword. She balanced it around a bit and found, much to her surprise, that she could hold it in ways she wasn't able to before. "You're right, I'm stronger! This sword feels much lighter!"

"You will also find that you are a little faster." Gas said. "But you are more susceptible to physical attacks, you don't have as much Psynergy as before, and fate will seem to conspire against you."

Will looked at Gas in puzzlement. "How would you know that much?"

The Jupiter Djinni swelled with pride. "The scholars of old had indeed researched the effects we Djinn have on different Adepts and invented the concept of classes. They experimented with those of us who wouldn't think themselves too good for that, even trying to measure the change of physical and mental abilities. I bet this Kraden guy you keep talking about would know something about it." Will was impressed. "I will ask him about it when we find him."

Kara continued the lesson. "Another important point is that your Psynergy changes with your class. You have other Venus Psynergy than before and also Mars Psynergy at your disposal. Why don't you try it out?"

Lilly closed her eyes, probably talking to Aura. After a while she opened them again and raised an arm: "Blast!!!"

Out of the blue, there was an explosion in the air in front of us. It was far enough away to keep us from harm, but the jolt sent a wave of air our way which was uncomfortably hot even for my taste. Lilly was thrilled: "Whoo-hoo!!! This rocks!!" She sat down again, her face flushed with excitement. "This is loads better than that water stuff!" She put Aura on standby and we exchanged our Djinn again. "You'll let me borrow her again some time, will you?!"

I smirked, sensing an opportunity. "Only if you promise to stop threatening me to death!" I said, hugging Aura and turning away a bit, as if to shield her from Lilly.

Lilly pouted. "But teasing you is so fun!" She sighed. "Oh well, maybe I can refrain from doing so for a while… I'll try, okay?"

I smiled. "Alright, if you manage to be a good girl for a day, you can borrow Aura again." We sealed the deal with a handshake.

"That concludes the tutorial." Will said, getting up from the ground. "Let's get going, we want to get to the crater today. That's a good starting point for our search."

It was already past noon, but the sun still stood pretty high. Soon, we were around the mountain which lay between us and Mt. Aleph. We ran into another Vermin which Will and Kara made short work of before we finally reached the edge of the crater. Its scale was truly gigantic. The mountain range which Mt. Aleph had been part of has partially been grinded to dust by the blast. Where the village of Vale probably had once been was now a barren hole in the ground, more than a mile in diameter. Only the Psynergy Stone Vale had been known for was still standing, obviously having survived the catastrophe without harm.

We followed the narrow pathway which lead to the Stone, chasms on both sides. The trail was about five feet broad to begin with, getting slightly thinner as we progressed. Around the Stone itself was a little more space – it probably absorbed the power of the explosion.

I could feel my Psynergy replenish as we gathered around the stone. I was especially grateful, since I had really been running low on Psynergy. Kara cast Ply on Will and herself and Lilly used Cure on me and herself, immediately recovering the spent power. "Thanks Lilly." I said. "Maybe I'll let you borrow Aura after all…" She merely replied with a smirk.

Feeling refreshed, I looked around. The plateau provided a good overview of the whole area. But nothing exciting was to be seen. That is, if you didn't count the massive destruction of the whole area, including even a mighty hole in the sacred peak itself…

"Hey, what's with that hole?" I asked. The others looked around. "I noticed that, too." Lilly said. "Doesn't the thing above it look like some sort of symbol or crest?"

Indeed, above the large opening in the mountain was a round disc carved out of the rock. There was no distinct symbol on the plain surface, but it looked definitely man-made.

 "That's the crest of Sol Sanctum!" Kara exclaimed. "It has been in front of the entrance of Sol Sanctum!"

"Really?" Lilly was intrigued. "I've never even been outside, they never allowed anybody to go near the mountain…"

"If the symbol of Sol Sanctum is there, that hole must be some sort of entrance, too!" I figured. "Hey, that sounds exciting! Wanna look inside?"

"I wouldn't mind a peek." Will said with a shrug. Kara was skeptical: "I don't know… That's not a part of Sol Sanctum we know. Look, it's below the ground level, that means it was buried before the Psynergy blast!"

"The more a reason to go inside!" I said, unable to hold myself back.

Will looked to Lilly who was hesitating. "What do you say? I know we're here to look for the residents of Vale, but it's not like they're going to run away, right?"

Lilly finally nodded. "You're probably right. Besides, it won't hurt just to take a look inside…"

Kara patted her on the back reassuringly. "Nah, we're four intelligent young Adepts, I'm positive we'll get past those traps and…"

"Traps?!" I interrupted, alarmed.

"Of course traps!" Lilly scoffed. "Do you expect people can just go in there and take all the nifty treasures and stuff?! If I built this place, I'd have put traps in it, too!"

"There are not only traps inside, but also puzzles." Kara went on. "People without brains like our Mr. Thief wouldn't get very far, even if they managed to get past the traps. You need to think in there to get somewhere. Often, traps and puzzles are combined; you have to solve the puzzle in order to disarm the trap."

Lilly's face brightened up: "Now you've got me! Let's see if those puzzles are a challenge to my brilliant mind!"

I let out a groan of despair. "Oh Mars, I just escaped death twice today… Let's rather go back and search the people of Vale, 'mkay?"

Suddenly Lilly was gripping my neck, shaking me thoroughly. "Do you question my mental abilities?!" she asked in a dangerous tone.

"No! Not at all!" I croaked. "I believe you're perfectly fit for what's inside that mountain, I promise!" Satisfied, Lilly released me. "Maybe I won't lend you Aura, after all…" I muttered quietly, rubbing my neck.

"I heard that!" Lilly shouted, not bothering to turn around.

"Okay, it's decided!" Kara said. "But how are we going to get down there?"

I looked carefully over the edge of the plateau we were standing on. From the ground of the pit, the pillar of earth was probably thirty feet. "That's a good question. I don't see a ladder or something."

"Just watch." Will said. "Bye Kara!" He gave her a quick kiss on the cheek before he turned around and stepped over the edge.

"Will, NO!!!" Kara flung herself on the ground, gazing over the edge. I knelt down too, just in time to see Will land in a squatting position, the impact of his f0 with a thud. A second later, he stood again. He looked upwards, grinning. "Scared ya, huh?"

"Move it Lance!" I heard Lilly's impatient voice behind me. "I've gotta try this, too!"

I stood up, but before I could point out that I wasn't likely going to lend Aura to her dead body, she had already darted past me and leaped off the plateau. After a seemingly endless moment of soaring through the air, she landed gracefully on her feet, not even making so much as a sound.

I turned to the only person remaining next to the Psynergy Stone: "Do all people in your world jump down huge cliffs and  just shrug it off?"

Kara gave a laugh. "You know what?" she grinned and I shook my head. "That's what I was just about to ask you!"

"…"

Okay, next time not yet Sol Sanctum coming up, but the chapter after that!

Keep reviewing, my faithful readers!!! ^_^

Quizer

PS: Oh wow, I almost forgot. Credits go to Feonyx for the explanation why monsters disintegrate when dying. He permitted me to use this in my fic. If you like Aus you might want to check out his fic! And do continue to make suggestions or ask questions, any efforts to help overcome/avoid Writer's Block are appreciated! ^_^


	12. Chapter 11

Hello guys!

Sorry for that long wait! Took me ages this time, didn't it? However, your patience is rewarded with an extra large chapter, more than 6,000 words! O.o

And here it is!

* * *

Chapter 11 

(Will's POV)

I looked up at the two figures remaining on the pillar of earth. Lance' head hung down in exasperation and Kara was wearing an amused expression. Hope my little stunt didn't upset her too much…

The first task at hand, however, was getting her and Lance down here as well, preferably without too many broken bones. But I already had a plan…

"Hey! Lilly!" I yelled. The blue-haired girl reluctantly tore her eyes away from the sacred peak of Mt. Aleph and strode over to me. "Do you see that little plant there?" I pointed to a healthy-looking green pair of leaves which I had discovered at the bottom of the pillar a moment ago. "If you give me Root for a second, I can grow that into a vine so our friends can climb down here."

"Why can't I do it myself?" Lilly wanted to know.

"Because you need a Mars Djinni to get Growth Psynergy, and Lance is up there. Joining with Gas won't give that Psynergy to you."

Lilly shrugged and gave me Root in exchange for Gas. The Venus Djinni nodded and I set her to me. Instantly I felt the power inside me change, affecting me even physically. Suddenly I was more aware of the weight of my armor, but I also felt I had an awesome amount of psynergetic power. Most of all, though, I felt a new kind of power inside me, one I didn't have before. Concentrating on that power, I stretched out my arm: "Growth!"

Small spheres of yellow light appeared in my palm. I directed them at plant at my feet which immediately started to grow as it fed on the nourishing Venus Psynergy. Quickly I understood how to control the vine's growth and I made it spiral straight upwards. When it reached the top, I ordered it to cling to the rock before I stopped, feeling drained and mildly nauseated. "Didn't think it would be that tough!" I gasped.

_I think that was pretty good, considering you're no Venus Adept! _Root's voice resounded in my mind. _How does it feel for you?_ I asked spontaneously, referring to our bonding of different elements. _It feels different than Lilly, that's for sure, but I'm perfectly comfortable with you, too._ came her reply. _Lilly's got such a temper, don't you think?_

I laughed involuntarily. _That's one way of putting it! I think whatever entity aligned her with Venus must've had its mind elsewhere that day!_

Root's chuckles echoed softly in my mind as I watched Kara and Lance climb down the vine. When Kara had almost reached the bottom, she jumped down the last bit and flung her arms around me, hugging me fiercely.

"You jerk, you scared me!" she said, looking straight into my eyes. I wrapped my arms around her, too, feeling my heartbeat quicken considerably at her closeness. "Sorry, I didn't mean to freak you out like that..." I muttered, stroking her silky hair. "I just thought I'd take the most obvious route down..."

Despite her efforts to look stern, Kara grinned involuntarily. "I'm not kidding." I continued as I loosened my grip on her to stroke her face. "This is a special skill I've always had, not only here in Weyard. Even when I was little I had jumped down from places at least twice my height and never got myself so much as a scratch." I drew her closer until the tips of our noses touched. "I'd never leave you just like that, Kara, especially not without a proper goodbye... I love you."

"I love you too Will..." With that, she cupped my head in her hands and pulled me close.

All of a sudden I felt a jolt of electricity on my mouth. Gently, Kara pressed her lips on mine, her affection washing over me like a mighty wave. I could feel she was delighted and yet amused at the gale of emotions she caused within me.

Before I could actually respond to her kiss, though, she had pulled away already. "Promise you'll never scare me like that again!" she demanded.

I looked at her with a pained expression: "That sounds kinda tough now, considering your reaction..."

"Oh you!" She shoved me away playfully, a broad grin plastered on her face.

Laughing, we joined hands again and turned to Lilly, who was talking to Lance animatedly, the topic being us, obviously. "You two definitely need to get a room!" she said with a smirk. A second later though, her face contorted into an expression of outrage. "Why you cheeky little…"

Gas appeared in a purple flash, grinning mischievously and looking definitely pleased with himself as he soared out of Lilly's range and landed a few feet away from her. "Can't take the truth or what!" he taunted. "Heed my advice!"

Lilly gave him a stare so murderous that even I was frightened, even though she wasn't looking at me. But much to my surprise, she looked away after a few seconds, the gaze of doom fading from her face. "As much as I hate to admit, you've got a point." she growled through clenched teeth, then let out a sigh. "It's time I stood up and admitted some of my feelings to you, to one of you in particular…"

She looked into the round to survey the different reactions. Gas visibly relaxed when Lilly tore her eyes away from him and settled them on Lance. The Mars Adept's face instantly flushed crimson, matching the color of his hair, and he didn't seem able to decide whether he should be delighted or terrified.

_What's this?_ I heard Kara's confused voice in my mind. _Did we miss something?_

_Don't know._I answered. _I didn't expect them to be that fast…_

_Yeah, and we didn't even do anything to help… _she added.

Lilly was now slowly approaching Lance, her gaze averting his; she was looking down instead. "The way he makes me feel…" she said in a quiet voice, advancing further, "…I've never felt that way about someone before…" Her mouth twitched and her gaze briefly tore away from Lance and moved to something at the border of her vision. Suddenly she seemed almost sinister, but when I looked again, she was standing in front of Lance, shyly avoiding his gaze as she tried to find the correct words to go on. _Must've been my imagination…_

"Don't you want to know who's the lucky one?" she asked, putting her arms loosely around his neck and looking him straight into the eyes. Lance gulped, unable to respond in any way.

"Let me give you a few pointers…" she said, glancing another quick look sideways. All of us were standing still, watching the scene unfold. "First, he's from Weyard, obviously…" Lance looked irritably at her for a second, but his expression quickly changed to something else as she pulled him closer. "Second, he's here in this crater…" She was now tightly embracing him, her arms around his body, her mouth next to his ear. "And third…" She paused and I could've sworn she mouthed "sorry" into his ear. Her hands retreated slowly and I realized she had been exploring his pack rather than his back! "And third… he's aligned with… Jupiter!"

In one fluid motion she detached herself from Lance, spun around and tossed something at the unsuspecting Djinni behind her. Gas stepped backwards in shock, tripped and fell over. A thick vine shot out of the ground where he stood a split second ago, twice the strength of my arm and covered with vicious thorns. Gas quickly scrambled to his feet again and decided to make a run for it, but Lilly pursued him as if she was some vengeful spirit of old. "I'll show you my affection, wait till I get a hold of you!" she growled, throwing more vines at him which he somehow managed to dodge without getting hit even once. "HEY! Those are my Bramble Seeds!" Lance shouted after her, but she paid no attention to him and resumed her hunt. Within seconds, they were around the corner and out of sight.

Lance sighed and dropped down on the ground. "Oh well, let's see what else is missing…"

"What do you think Gas said to her?" Kara whispered as he removed his backpack and started looking over its contents.

"Probably something along the lines of her needing to get her own love life or something…"

"He's got a point, you know?" Lance looked up from his pack and quickly checked left and right before he went on: "But that was scary. I hope I'll never see her in a fit of passion…"

Kara giggled as he continued rummaging through his pack. "Thank Mars, she only took a handful of seeds…"

Curiously I looked at the seeds he was holding in his hand. They were a brownish hue, roughly an inch in size and like the vines, they had thorns on them, though not nearly as many.

"How do they work?" I asked him.

"They are activated by Psynergy, not by just throwing them." he explained. "It doesn't matter which kind, even non-Adepts can trigger them with what remnants of Psynergy they possess. I suppose even though they have no powers of their own anymore, they retained the ability to control Psynergy. Here." He said handing me one of them. "You can try one if you like."

"Thanks." Carefully not to sting myself, I took it from his hand. I realized it was fairly safe to carry a bunch of them in your hand if you didn't clutch them too tightly. When Kara had had a look, too, I tossed it a fair distance away. Nothing happened, as Lance had predicted. I closed my eyes and raised a hand, mentally reaching for the seed; a small sphere of concentrated power glowing softly amidst the darkness. When I touched it with my own power, its glow brightened and turned into the shape of a thorny vine before fading away. I opened my eyes. The grown plant, now completely void of Psynergy stuck out of the ground where the seed had been. A second later though it disintegrated into a tiny pile of ashes.

"Whoa!" I said involuntarily. "They go off fast! Isn't it risky to carry them around just like that? What if somebody activates them while they are still in your pack?"

Lance grimaced. " I thought about that, too, that's why they're in my pack and not in my pockets. Fortunately no normal monster is anywhere near as intelligent as required to use these seeds. They need to be touched, like you did just now. A wave of Psynergy won't set them off, no matter how strong it is. Most people without Psynergy don't even know they're able to use them, even if they know these are no ordinary seeds. And Adepts don't tend to go up against one another most of the time. Still I'd be in deep trouble if somebody set them of inside my pack… I'd need a bag made of mythril to keep them safe…"

"Why mythril?" Kara asked.

"Mythril has special properties which affect psynergy." Lance said. "The various mythril alloys show different reactions upon contact with Psynergy, depending on what metals were used to make them. For example, mythril silver can be imbued with all sorts of beneficial Psynergy which it will pass on to its bearer. A lot of those unique, ancient pieces of armor with ability-enhancing Psynergy was crafted using mythril silver. Mythril on its own however has Psynergy-dispelling qualities. Any Psynergy that comes into contact with pure mythril simply ceases to exist. These seeds would be safer in a bag of woven mythril thread than if I tossed them over the edge of Weyard."

"Wow…" I mused. "A whole suit of mythril armor must make pretty much invincible!"

Lance laughed out loud. "Apart from the fact that mythril is a soft metal which is ill-suited for crafting armor, it is so incredibly rare and expensive that making even so much as a helmet from it would require hundreds of thousands of coins worth of mythril, probably even several millions. I've never seen any myself, but I heard the rich use mythril coins of immense worth!"

"That sounds convenient." Kara said. "I guess the weight of all that gold would become a serious problem at about 20000 coins…"

Lance shot her a strange look, but didn't get to say something, because Gas suddenly reappeared. He seemed to be in a hurry and looked quite worried.

"Gas, what's up? Where'd you leave Lilly?" I asked him as general attention was turned to him.

"Well, I was just running merrily for my life, when she suddenly stopped throwing those things at me. I first thought she had run out of them, but when I looked around, she was standing in front of this really large treasure chest. It was just standing there right in the midst of the landscape, I was wondering who put it there. Logically Lilly spontaneously forgot about killing me and tried to open it. Which was a bit difficult considering it was way taller than her; when she finally managed to pry it open using her sword, she could barely look inside. She was just about to reach inside when that thing suddenly grew fangs and tried to bite her. I don't know how she did it, but somehow she managed to keep all of her limbs attached. She then tossed her remaining seeds at it, which didn't seem to bother it very much, and yelled for me to help, when the thing decided to put her to sleep using Psynergy. And I decided to run for my life once more. So here I am now."

"You just left her out there alone with a Kaiser Mimic!" Lance asked incredulously. "Come on, we've got to save her, she's in danger!"

Wasting no time at all, we hurried off, following Gas' directions. "I thought they were merely legends!" I heard Lance say next to me. "Mimics are said to feed on the Psynergy within magical items they 'eat', even transforming into larger kinds if they get enough power… But I didn't think they actually exist!"

We continued to run over the bare surface of the crater. When a group of three slimes suddenly showed up in front of us, we just dashed right through their midst, not even bothering to draw our weapons. A couple of seconds later, we found the place Gas had described.

Lilly was lying on the ground in a heap, sleeping, but unharmed. She even snored every now and then. The Kaiser Mimic, as Lance called it, had obviously lost interest in her, because it was just standing around a few feet away from her, looking just like a huge blue, but otherwise ordinary chest.

"Psst… it's waiting for its next victim." Lance whispered. "It won't come alive too soon unless someone else tries to open it. Which means we have enough time to prepare to fight it! I'll start by moving Lilly a bit further away…"

He went and picked up Lilly, carrying her on both arms, then proceeded to look for a place more or less safe to put her. "I could also try to wake her up!" Kara suggested. Lance looked down at the sleeping girl in his arms. "To be honest, I like her much better this way…"

I could understand that notion. Lilly had a serene smile on her face, and she chose that exact moment to snuggle up against Lance, rubbing her head at his chest. The faint blush that crept back on his face was indication enough that he had noticed it, too. "But we might need her, that fight's gonna be more difficult than the standard roaming monster groups here…" He shrugged. "Go ahead and try."

I felt Kara concentrating her Psynergy as she pointed at Lilly and said: "Restore." Blue stars of Mercury Psynergy appeared around Lilly, orbiting her a while before vanishing again, and her body glowed faintly for about a second, but other than that, nothing happened. Lilly was still sleeping soundly.

"Well, I tried." Kara said. "I guess I'm not that strong yet."

"That's okay." I comforted her, "You're not supposed to learn Restore before Lv.13 anyway…"

"Is there no other way to wake her up?" she asked Lance, who shook his head, saying: "Psynergy-induced sleep is much deeper than natural sleep. Yelling or shaking won't wake her up. Even if she got injured, she would most likely sleep on, no matter how serious the wound is." He carefully put her down in a sitting position, leaning her against the rock wall that made up the backside of Mt. Aleph, then picked up her sword which was still lying on the ground nearby. "I suppose she won't mind me using this for a while…" He said, shrugging. "Maybe I'll even give it back when we're done…" He added with a smirk.

"Okay, let's get back to business!" I said. "If this thing is as powerful as you say, we should at least discuss some tactics."

"Yeah Lance, enlighten us!" Kara said, her voice turning slightly sarcastic. "Where are the weak points of a CHEST!

"Well, obviously the legs are one of its weak spots, but since they don't appear until after we attack, I vote we go for the hinges on the backside." He pointed at the curved pieces of metal which connected the lid to the bottom part of the container. "If we manage to destroy both of them, it will have trouble keeping itself assembled. Oh yeah, the thing also has eyes, you might want to aim at them with some Psynergy once it opens them."

"Seems that there are some weak points after all…" Kara grumbled. "I get it this thing's somewhat stronger than what we've met so far?" Lance grinned at her understatement, but nodded and Kara continued: "Then we probably want to depend on our Djinn in this battle. Maybe you know already, but the strength of a summoned spirit depends on what you put it against. You won't know what a Summon can do until you try it on a real bad-ass monster!"

"Interesting." Lance said. "I'll be sure to try that!" With that, we assumed fighting stances and the battle began.

"Root!" I shouted, unleashing the Venus Djinni. At once, I felt power flow into me from the earth below my feet. I also felt my Psynergy return to the way it was before I joined with Root. _Good!_ I thought with satisfaction, _I'm going to need my standard Psynergy setup in this fight!_ I glanced a look at the mimic, but it was still unaware of its company – or their intentions, more likely…

That was about to change. Sort of amused, I watched Kara stepping forward, moving her sword up and down a few times in measurement before finally bringing it down forcefully and with a yell. It looked kinda funny, but I realized it was a sensible thing to do. Rather than randomly hacking away, she had analyzed the arc of her swing in slow motion to see where it would connect – something that required at least some experience to know by instinct.

With a ringing noise metal clashed on metal, Kara's blade leaving a dent in the steel part connecting the monster's two components. It was about an inch deep, more than I expected her sword to do, but still no more than a scratch compared to the huge proportions of our foe.

Finally realizing it was under attack, the Kaiser Mimic came alive. Long, furry spider legs protruded from its sides as it scrambled around to face its opponents. I noticed that each leg ended in a round steel plate, evidence on how it had concealed them so far.

"Aura." I heard Lance' voice behind me and suddenly I felt a surge of power welling up in me. The world around me seemed to slow down considerably and my sword felt as light in my hand as if it was made of wood. I dashed around the Mimic, laughing inwardly at its sluggish attempt to keep up with my movement. Gripping my sword with both hands, I raised it above my head and slashed downwards at the spot previously marked by Kara. It smashed full force into the hinge, sending sparks flying and a numb feeling through my arms. Surprisingly, my sword was still in one piece, but in addition to that it had left a severe gash in the metal.

The Mimic screeched with fury and opened its lid, showing saw-like rows of pointed teeth along its edges. Violet circles of light appeared above it and suddenly a colorful triangle of light homed in on Kara, quickly shifting into what I instantly recognized as a Psynergy Seal. Kara flinched, glowing white for a moment and the seal appeared over her head, spinning slowly. She scowled at the sign above her head for a second before she decided to take out her anger on the monster: "Bubble!"

The Mercury Djinni sent a stream of large bubbles at the Mimic which disappeared from view in the masses of water. When the mist cleared away, we could see the monster was choking, emitting red puffs of smoke. "Way to go, both of you!" I shouted in Kara's direction. "This fight might not take long after all!"

Not giving the foe any room for attack, Lance stepped forward and raised his hands: "Mars!" I watched as the summoned spirit materialized in front of him and dived down at the huge animated chest. I noticed that this time, its glow was much brighter and the fireballs that dispersed from the target were noticeably larger and hotter.

The Mimic flapped its lid angrily, its armor visibly scorched and the metal frame looked as if it had melted temporarily in various places. Wanting to keep the barrage of attacks up, I mentally reached out for Root when I spotted Gas at the border of my view, idly standing by and watching the fight. "Gas! This is no time for slacking off! Get over here and ready for some action!" I circled around the mimic again and raised my hands when Gas was close enough: "Jupiter!"

The spirit seemed to have read my mind, directing its wind waves at the damaged hinge just like I would have. There was a distinct snapping noise when the blades of air severed the linking metal piece. As I returned to Lance' and Kara's sides, I didn't bother to keep much space between me and our opponent as I was faster anyway.

Alas, I had underestimated the Mimic's ability to turn quickly using its many legs. It opened its lid and latched onto my right arm, my hand holding the sword disappearing inside. Pain flared up in me when its teeth pierced my skin, but it wasn't nearly as bad as I would have expected. I had managed to hold onto my sword and now tried swinging it around, pulling away at the same time, but apart from an increase in pain I didn't achieve anything; despite its damaged state, the Mimic's grip was still surprisingly strong. To make matters worse, it didn't even seem to have anything inside that I could hit with my sword. Only when the poison made it choke again a second later, I was able to escape its grasp and return to my friends' sides.

"Are you okay?" Kara asked in concern, looking at my arms while Lance held the monster at bay with a Flare Wall. Checking for myself, I discovered that my worries were mostly unfounded. A straight line of bite marks went across my arm, but they were only bleeding lightly and the pain had subsided to a dull throbbing. As far as I could tell, it was still fully operational. "This is no big deal…" I calmed her, "I guess I have to thank Lance and Aura later…"

In the meantime, Lance had driven the monster away by advancing with the blazing wall of flames, following up as it scuttled away from the intense heat. With its back against the wall, Lance scorched it good for quite a while before he was unable to pour more Psynergy into the fire and retreated back. The Kaiser Mimic seemed to weaken by the moment, but it was still ferocious. Kara halted its new approach by summoning Mercury. The jets of water were powerful enough to knock it back a small distance. While it was still getting to its feet, Aura was set to Lance in a red flash. "This thing's almost down!" Kara yelled, her Psynergy Seal still intact. "Let's stall and have the poison do the job!"

"Come on, let's just finish it off!" Root exclaimed from her place on my shoulder. "Let's go, Will!" I prepared to summon her, but when I reached out to her with my mind, I suddenly felt that somehow this wasn't right, as though I was making a mistake. Looking up, I saw the Mimic had opened its lid and was preparing to cast some Jupiter Psynergy, the target being Lance. Quickly, I made my decision: "Root, SET!"

In addition to the changes in my body I was also confronted with Root's confusion, but she quickly understood when she saw Lance flinch through my eyes. White orbs of energy emerged from his body and streamed towards the Mimic, disappearing inside its opened lid. It looked slightly better than before, but a second later, it had another poison-induced coughing fit which rendered the effort wasted. Lance slumped down, his skin an unhealthy greyish color. "That's it!" Kara yelled, her sword starting to glow blue and gather power. "You're going down, you freak! DREAMTIDE!"

Again, water appeared on the ground which rose up to our knees this time, rendering the Mimic almost helpless as the two waves crashed into it. A distinct snoring sound could be heard, indicating the mimic had fallen asleep. The water disappeared again, leaving everything except our foe dry.

"This thing won't wake up anymore." Kara said matter-of-factly, sheathing her sword and walking over to us. Suddenly, she was all her calm and composed self again. _Scary…_ Root commented and I couldn't help agreeing with her.

I quickly focused on Lance, calling up the new powers I had received through my alliance with Root: "Cure." Yellow energy streamed into him from the ground below and restored the color to his cheeks. A second later, he opened his eyes. "Ugh… is the fight over?"

I nodded. "It got you and drained your life force, but Kara finished it off. Are you okay?"

He got to his feet again. "I'm fine, I think. But how did you heal me, I mean Kara's still sealed…"

"Yeah, how did you know this would happen?" Kara asked. "I thought you were going to summon Root!"

"I didn't know, I was going to summon her, but then I had this feeling again, like yesterday in Vault… It just felt wrong… And when I saw the Mimic was going to attack Lance, I realized I'd be the only one able to heal while you have that seal thing above your head…"

"Is this thing ever going to disappear?" Kara asked, sounding annoyed.

"A Psynergy Seal starts weakening the moment it is cast." Lance explained. "If you concentrate your power, you should be able to break it now."

Sure enough, when Kara closed her eyes, the symbol above her head shattered and disappeared.

"But one thing I don't understand…" Lance said. "How did you manage to use your weapon's special power while that seal was still intact?"

Kara shrugged. "I found that while I couldn't cast any Psynergy myself, I could still channel my powers into the sword… I really don't know."

"Whoa, the Mimic is still there!" Lance said when he spotted the monster. "I thought you said you killed it!"

"Kara put it asleep." I said. "The poison's going to kill it any second now."

"Great! I wonder what kind of treasure we're gonna get! Must be something good, judging from how powerful that thing was… I hope it finally hurries up and bites the dust. Let's wake up Lilly in the meantime…"

We walked over to where Lilly was rested. Lance bent down on one knee and said: "With other statuses, it's basically the same as the Psynergy Seal­­: The longer they last, the weaker they get. By now you should be able to wake her up with your weak Restore spell, Kara."

Kara took this as her cue and cast Restore on Lilly again, but with as much success as the first time. "Oh well." She sighed. "I guess we have to wait until she wakes up by herself…"

We sat down and leant ourselves against the mountain as well. I took Kara's hand into mine again and she laid her head on my shoulder. _I'm beginning to miss peaceful moments like this…_ Kara's mind told me. _They sure seem to grow scarce…_

Suddenly a blue flash appeared on Kara's body, making us both jump. _Oops!_ I heard Bubble's apologetic voice. _I never know in advance when I'll be back, so I can't really help surprising you…I'm sorry._

A purple flash on Lilly indicated that Gas had returned as well. A second later, she woke with a start, her eyes wide open. "You!" she growled, putting Gas on standby again, "I thought I got rid of you!" Gas quickly hopped out of her reach as she took in her surroundings. "What's with that chest?" She pointed at the monster, noticing its battered state. "Don't tell me you fought it! Without me!" She pouted. "Next time, share the fun!"

"We wanted to!" Lance said defensively. "But you were asleep and none of our attempts to wake you up worked! Well…" he went on, eyeing Gas, "At least now we know who's the one for the job next time…"

"Don't you dare…" Lilly glared at Lance. "Hey Will, I want Root back!"

"Sorry, I just remembered I'll still need her to grow another of these vines back at the entrance…" I grinned. "Looks like you'll have to put up with Gas until then…"

"Hey, I thought you were my friend!" Gas exclaimed. "You can't possibly want me to further endanger my life by making me stay with her!"

"Why is everyone sitting around here, anyway?" Lilly wanted to know.

"We're waiting for this thing to kick the bucket." Kara said. "Lance said it probably has some good treasure."

Lilly snorted. "An old sword is all I saw before it tried to chew my arms off. Didn't look that valuable to me…"

"I still need one." Lance said. "Oh right, here's yours. " he added, returning Lilly's sword to her. "I borrowed it just for this fight." Surprisingly, Lilly let it go and just took her sword back.

After a while of uncomfortable silence she spoke up again: "Um… are you sure it will perish anytime soon?"

"Yep." I said. "Kara has seen to that."

"What did you do to it?" she asked her curiously.

"Bubble and Dreamtide." Kara said, flashing a wicked smile. "I call it the Tainted Sleep Combo!"

"You poisoned it?" Lilly nodded in understanding. "Certainly a clever way to get rid of a strong enemy. But keep in mind that poison usually works on common monsters only!"

"I'm a gamer, I know that!" Kara said with indignation. "I didn't even think that it would work on this one!"

Suddenly the ground rumbled and a horrible screeching noise filled the sky. The Mimic turned gray and was devoured by purple flames which appeared out of nowhere. When the noise and rumbling died down, only a pile of gold and a sword remained at the spot where it had been.

"Let's have a look." Lance said and we stood and went to get the loot. I took out our purse and shoved the pile of gold inside. With amazement I noticed that the bulk of the gold wasn't in the shape of coins. There were small bars with numbers like 100 or 200 on them and I even found one worth 500 coins! "We're rich!" I told Kara, showing it to her.

Lifting the purse from the ground, I found that it was now quite heavy. "Whoa, this is too much. I might carry it, but in a fight, this load will slow me down." I removed some of the bars and divided them among my friends. "This way, it won't encumber any of us."

"Hey Lilly!" Kara said, "Lance said something about mythril coins a while ago. What do you know of that?"

"I believe Dad has a few of them at home." Lilly said thoughtfully. "One of them is worth ten thousand coins, even though they're the same size as the smallest gold coins."

"That would erase the weight problem…" I said. "But where do we change them?"

"In Kalay and Tolbi are places where gold can be exchanged for mythril." Lilly explained. "Of course, they want a little more than 10,000 coins. The exchange rate changes according to the availability of both gold and mythril, but it is usually somewhere around 10,500 coins."

"Well, I guess those 500 don't matter anymore once you reach those scales…" Lance said. He picked up the sword the monster had left behind. "Hmm… the design looks familiar…"Lance mused as he looked over the unremarkable object. The handle was of a platinum color and the hilt resembled the shape of an 'x'. Otherwise, it was unadorned. He drew the blade out of the scabbard and both he and Lilly examined it. The blade was as plain-looking as the handle, save the notches which covered one of the blunt sides in regular intervals, forming a row from the hilt to the tip of the blade. "The material is decent quality…" Lilly said after testing the sharpness, though much more carefully than she had done with the Pirate's Blade. "But the edge is nothing to be excited about. I'd almost say my boring old short sword is sharper…"

Lance however was still deep in thought. "I've seen this blade before… somewhere… I just can't remember…" He shrugged. "Anyhow, this must have been a mighty weapon before the Mimic got it. I'm looking forward to see its special ability." He sheathed the blade and fastened it to his belt. Suddenly a faint red glow surrounded him which faded after a moment. I also noticed the color of the handle had changed to a shade of copper. "Hey wait a sec!" he said excitedly. "The sword taught me a new Psynergy!"

"Really?" Lilly asked. "What does it do?"

"Don't know." Lance answered. "It is to be used on the sword, though." He paused, communicating with his Djinni. "Aura says it will probably change something about the weapon…"

"Well, why don't you try it?" Kara suggested.

"Okay, here goes!" He drew the sword, raising it above his head. "Factorize!"

Suddenly, an intense glow surrounded the blade. It was of the same tint of copper that I noticed on its handle a moment ago. When it had faded, we gathered around Lance to look at the weapon. "Hmm… Still looks the same to me…" Kara said.

"No…" Lance said. "Look at the hilt! Its shape has changed!"

True enough, the hilt was now resembling a 'plus' symbol. "I think I know now where I have seen this weapon before…" Lance whispered. "It was some book about ancient weapons… It is called the Sequence, if I remember correctly. The legendary blade which is said to grow stronger with each foe it vanquishes… Is this really it?"

Lilly snorted. "You're saying this blunt thing is a legendary weapon!"

"I recognize it." Lance said. "Of course it could be a fake. But then again, it bestows the Psynergy used to change its shape. If I used it again, the sword would return to its old state."

"You said it grows stronger with each monster slain with it?" I asked him. "How does that work?"

"I don't know." Lance shrugged. "The Sequence is part of a set of four long swords, each of which is supposed to harness the Psynergy all monsters contain in its own, unique way. The Mimic drained most of its powers, before that, it must have been a force to reckon with…"

"I bet you'll find out how it works in battle." Kara said. "For now, let's go back to the entrance to the sanctum."

"Yeah, we've already been dawdling around here enough!" Lilly agreed.

Lance scoffed. "And who was the reason we came here in the first place!"

Lilly's cheeks turned pink. "Point taken…" she mumbled as we left the site. _Doesn't look like something is going to happen between them anytime soon…_ Kara messaged to me. I chuckled. _Yeah, they enjoy their bickering way too much…_

_Anyway, how's your arm? Does it need healing?_

I had forgotten about the wound already, and when I looked at my arm, I knew why: It wasn't there anymore! _Huh? It's gone…_

_It has regenerated!_ Root spoke up in my mind. _You unleashed me at the start of the battle, remember?_

_Yeah, thanks Root! _I said to her. She sent me a smile. _Anytime._

_But you can still do with a cleanup!_ Kara said and proceeded to cast Restore on me. When the glow faded, the holes in my shirt had disappeared as well as the red stains on my arm. _Now that you're all nice and clean again, let's get moving! I want to see the inside of that sanctum…_Without warning, she grabbed my hand and started running, dragging me behind her.

* * *

How was it? Did you like it? I'm not 100 sure about the scene with Lilly and Lance, before she runs off chasing Gas. Please tell me what you think of it. 

Someone wanted to know whether Lance' skin color is unusual. Sorry to disappoint you, but he doesn't look unusual in that respect, since he is only partially Proxian.

Oh and I also need lots of words affiliated with music which can be used as class names, like 'musician' or 'minstrel'. I need them for a series of classes I want to put in. Please put lots of suggestions in your reviews!


	13. Chapter 12

I know the wait has been unbearably long, but here finally comes the next chapter, with more than twice the usual length! It might take ages for me to update, but unless I say otherwise, I will continue working on this fic, and currently I see no reason to stop doing so! But enough of my ranting, here comes what you've been waiting for!

Enjoy!

Oh and don't mind the single zeros (0) that separate some of the text, they don't have a deeper meaning. I just needed something to repair the formatting that was crippled by the uploading process, and even the most basic symbols would be erased again. So just ignore them. Maybe I'll be able to fix this at a later day...

* * *

Chapter 12

(Lance' POV)

"So how do we get in?" Lilly asked, pointing at the opening in the mountain. "We are down here and the entrance is up there, ten feet above us!" She fidgeted. "Well, I might be able to climb up there by myself, but what about you three?"

"Yeah, right…" I muttered, examining the rock surface, which was as smooth as polished marble in this section. Either it was man-made, or the Psynergy blast may also have grinded away the natural roughness of the stone. Either way, the wall was rendered impossible to scale even for a spider.

Will however was already working on a solution. We watched as he knelt down in front of a ledge which stuck out of the mountain, saying: "Growth." Seconds later, a vine started spiraling upwards, forming a substitute for a ladder.

"That's very nice, Will, but the entrance is over there!" Kara pointed out. Indeed, the ledge was in close proximity to the entrance, but the gap was still to large for a jump. _You'd even have to jump around the corner!_ Aura said in my mind.

"I know." Will said to her, smiling as he put Root on standby and returning her to Lilly. "Now we need somebody who knows Move."

"That's my cue!" I said, stepping forward. "What shall I move?"

Will pointed left of the entrance. I looked closer and saw the rock was slightly off color in one place. When I walked towards it, I realized it was a pillar of rock standing in a crevice! "If we move this below the entrance, we can jump from there and get in." Will said.

"That's easier done than said! Move!" I focused my Psynergy and pulled the pillar out. It was pretty heavy, but I had often practiced this move at home, so it wasn't a problem. When it was out far enough, I proceeded to push it below the entrance, still using Psynergy. I continued until it was right in front of the hole leading into the mountain.

"Great!" Kara said. "Now let's do some exploring!"

"Just a sec!" I said, feeling slightly drained. "I want to replenish my Psynergy before I go in there." Quickly, I climbed back up the other vine and touched the Psynergy Stone. Instantly, I felt the effort from the previous exercise fade away. When I turned around to climb back down, I saw Will's head peer over the edge. "I need a refill, too. You never know what's inside a cave like this…" I let him pass and climbed back down. I had barely reached the bottom, however, when I was startled by a loud thud next to me. "Hehe… Sorry." Will said as he got up from the ground. Kara silently shook her head.

"Come on, let's go!" shouted Lilly, already standing in the passageway. "I want a legendary sword, too!" I watched as Will and Kara made their way to the entrance before I climbed up the vine, too. _Looks tricky…_ Aura commented when I paused to look at the narrow pillar's surface. _I'm so glad I'm not going to get hurt if you miss!_

_Gee, thanks!_ I responded sarcastically. _Still, you get to feel my pain if I fall down, so you had better hope I make it!_

_Gulp… Okay._

Mustering my courage, I took a step back and jumped. But my worries had been unfounded; my feet landed securely on the small space as if I had been doing this for years. Quickly, I stepped inside the entrance. "Okay, here we go!" Will said and we moved on into the sanctum.

(Lilly's POV)

It was dark inside the cave. Shortly after the entrance, the way turned into stairs which led sharply downwards. "That was pretty easy!" I said to Kara, referring to the entrance puzzle. "Are all the puzzles like this?"

"It was easy." Kara agreed. "But only for us. It was enough to make sure nobody without Psynergy can just walk in. Further inside, there might be more difficult riddles."

The stairs turned out to go on for quite some time, with turning points between the separate flights. Torches on the walls were emitting warm red-yellowish light. "I'm surprised to see torches here." I heard Will say. "I've gotten used to seeing them in games, even though it makes me wonder how they never seem to expire, but in reality? I don't believe somebody comes here frequently to replace them…" Lance stopped to look at one of them more closely and I did the same. "Psynergy." he said. Indeed, the torches seemed to consist of crystals imbued with Mars Psynergy. The flames were real, the heat radiating from them assured me of that. "Don't they ever run out?" Will wanted to know. Lance shrugged. "Probably after several hundred years. Then they cast lots and lots of Mars Psynergy on them to recharge them. These crystals store the light and heat of it, I suppose."

We walked onwards. After the fourth set of stairs, the path turned once more and then became even again. There were no more torches, but the walls and ceiling were glowing with a soft, golden light.

Suddenly we found our path blocked by an enormous granite block in the shape of a statue. It fit seamlessly together with the walls, it was impossible to tell whether the path continued behind. "Dead end." I said, turning around to face the others.

"Hmm… This looks like the statues in the other Sol Sanctum!" Kara said, examining the obstacle. "Let's try and push it forward."

Working together, it was surprisingly easy to move the massive obstruction. As we pushed it forward, an opening on the left was revealed, but instead of a corridor there was only a small alcove. We just drew level with it when there was a thump noise and the statue stopped moving.

"What the…!" Lance tried using his Move Psynergy to push it further, but to no avail. "Looks like it's stuck!"

I looked around, trying to find something to help us. _Hey, look at the floor!_ Root's voice suddenly echoed in my mind.

_Huh?_ I looked downwards. At first glance, the floor seemed to be perfectly normal, but when I looked in the opposite direction, I realized the tiles we were standing on were slightly lowered. In the corridor behind us, the path was about an inch higher, creating a small step which probably prevented the statue from being pushed from the other side. _That's it! The statue isn't_ _supposed to be pushed forward…It must be moved sideways! _A quick glance to my left confirmed my theory: the alcove was included in the lowered floor section.

"Lance, can you pull the block back out?" I asked and he nodded: "I guess so, the floor is pretty smooth here."

We stepped back to make room for the granite slab that was slowly but steadily moved backwards by Lance. "When it's all the way back, move it into that opening!" I gave him further instructions. Lance looked at the floor and nodded, his face brightening up in understanding. Sure enough, when the block disappeared into the crevice, the pathway became visible behind it. "Pretty good!" Lance admitted reluctantly. "Apparently there's more to that talk about your brilliant mind than I initially thought…"

"I'm going to take that as a compliment…" I said dryly.

Lance grinned. "Oh come on, you didn't expect me to say 'Wow Lilly you're so great, I couldn't have figured that one out on my own!', did you?"

"Not really, to be honest. But I did figure it out after all!" I pointed out.

He shrugged. "I would have too, eventually. You were just faster than me. Who knows," he added as an afterthought, "I might just have been holding back for your sake…"

I snorted, about to shoot back a witty response, but I was interrupted: "Are you two coming!" Will and Kara were standing a good deal ahead of us in the hallway which led into a room further ahead. Will was shaking his head and Kara was tapping her foot impatiently.

_Looks like you were quite caught up in your -ahem- conversation… _Root commented.

"Geez, do you have to be so impatient!" I yelled. "This is important! Being able to sort out differences is vital for a proper relationship! Right Lance!" Not waiting for a reply I grabbed his hand, dragging him along as I ran to catch up with the others.

_Relationship, so so…_ Root said thoughtfully. _Don't you think there are other things that would belong into your so-called relationship? Things you're_ _sorely neglecting…?_

_Are you in this with Gas or what! _I snapped. _You know perfectly well I only said that to shut them up!_

_Oh, Gas thinks so, too? _Root asked innocently and I mentally slapped my forehead as we ran on.

Suddenly something clicked beneath my feet. _A trap!_ The thought flashed through my mind. I stopped on the spot, but kept gripping Lance' hand tightly so his momentum spun him around. Quickly, I put a hand on his shoulder, ensuring he was staying behind me, and turned around to face the source of the grinding noise I heard.

But instead of narrowing corridors or wall segments moving to reveal spikes, the sound came from the granite statue we had just moved a moment ago. Apparently it was being pushed back to block the path again. "Phew…" I sighed, my body relaxing slowly. "I thought it was a trap…"

I turned around again to Lance, who was looking at me strangely. "Were you… covering me?"

"What makes you think that!" I said sarcastically. "Of course I was going to jump away last second, if something had been coming at me!" I snorted in amusement. "Covering you… as if!"

His expression however remained as we walked on. "Hmm…" he muttered. "Maybe you're not so bad after all…"

(Kara's POV)

At first I was simply overwhelmed by the magnificence of the room I was entering. It was a some sort of huge entrance hall, with a domed ceiling that seemingly went up as high as the sacred peak itself. While the floor was purple like in the other Sol Sanctum, the walls and ceiling were exclusively covered with those large golden tiles. The familiar soft glow lost and gained intensity in a slow, steady rhythm, almost as if indicating the heartbeat of the very sanctum. On the other end of the hall, directly in front of us was a large stone slab with lots of writing on it. On either side of it was the crest of Sol Sanctum, slightly raised out of the floor. Two large sets of doors to our left and right led deeper into the sanctum; at this moment however, they were closed. They were both decorated with plenty of reliefs, but each in its unique way: the left one had warrior-type motifs like heavily armored knights fighting monsters, and some of their gear. The set on the right featured mages throwing fireballs or summoning bolts of lightning, wizards' staffs and thick books which were probably supposed to contain arcane magic rituals.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Will whispered next to me and I nodded: "Almost makes you forget you're belowground …" Slowly we started heading deeper into the room to take a look at the stone tablet when Lilly decided to celebrate her arrival in the lower Sol Sanctum with some well chosen words to add to the solemn atmosphere.

"WOW, this is NEAT!" she exclaimed, taking in her surroundings. "I bet those golden panels fetch some good coins!" She went on looking around, perfectly ignoring Lance who let out a groan of despair. "And look at that chest over there!" She pointed at the Sol crest left of the stone tablet. "I'm finally getting my legendary sword!"

Unlike the right crest, which was empty, this one had a large chest on it. "That chest looks vaguely familiar…" Will muttered as Lilly started walking towards it.

"Could it be because we just BATTLED one of these!" Lance said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. He quickly grabbed Lilly's arm, stopping her from repeating her mistake from earlier on. "Heck, do you always go around touching everything like a little kid!" Lance wanted to know. "At least let us have a look at this place before you wreak havoc on it!"

Lilly angrily shook his arm off. "This one's different!" she protested. "It looks like it is made of stone!"

Indeed, the chest was colored in different shades of grey, even the (supposedly) metallic parts.

"That doesn't mean it won't come alive the second you touch it!" Lance said. "Care to look at that panel over there?"

Only now I realized it wasn't completely empty. Small bits of rock indicated a scuffle of some sort had taken place there.

"What do you think has been standing there before someone came along, their curiosity got the better of them and they tried to open it!"

"You mean someone woke it and then it climbed all those stairs to wait for us outside?" I asked.

"I don't know how it got outside," he said, shrugging, "but I'm pretty sure the chest we just defeated has been standing on this panel not too long ago."

"Let's have a look at this tablet." Will suggested. "Maybe it says something about the chests."

"Maybe it's a Summon Tablet." I said as we walked past the huge, lifeless chest. "The letters on it look like in the game's animation…"

"You're right, it's the same letters. Will agreed as we gathered round the inscription. "But I'm not familiar with the ancient Weyardian tongue and I don't think you are, so who's gonna read it?"

"Maybe our scholar-wannabe knows?" Lilly said, nudging Lance. But he shook his head. "This looks all gibberish to me."

Will however bent close to the tablet, with a look of intense concentration on his face. He stayed like this quite some time, his blue eyes travelling over the ancient letters. When Lilly tried to question him, I motioned her to be silent.

"I think I can read it." he said at last, tearing his gaze from the stone.

"How?" Lance asked, dumbfounded.

Will shrugged. "Dunno. I just kept looking at it, after a while it started to make sense…"

"Really!" Lilly sounded excited. "Let me try!"

Shoving Will aside, she positioned herself in front of the tablet, her expression turning into a scrutinizing stare.

"It's not a Summon Tablet, although the letters are the same…" Will said, intrigued. "It looked more like some sort of prophecy to me… '

"A prophecy! Wow, that is way cool!" Lance exclaimed. "What does it say?"

"I don't understand a thing." Lilly was disappointed. She stepped back from the tablet. "A prophecy, you say?" she said sceptically . "I don't believe in such things… … … …but let's hear what it says anyway. Maybe it's good for a laugh."

"I don't believe this sanctum was built for amusement." Lance said dryly. "Can you read it to us, Will?"

"I'll do it." Will said. "But don't interrupt me or I'll have to start concentrating all over again!" With that, he focused his gaze on the inscription once more:

**0**

**0**

"**When the sacred peak is bathed in golden light,**

**When an ancient power is split,**

**When one seeks to possess what belongs to all**

**and nobody at all **

**0**

**When that time comes,**

**the Knights of legend must return**

**Inseparable like darkness and light**

**their bond works wonders for all to see**

**0**

**The Sages will join them in their quest**

**One who never backs down**

**One who never gives up**

**Together they shall overcome any obstacle**

**0**

**The heroes from two worlds must unite,**

**raise the ancient spirits from their slumber**

**and wield the Crops of Alchemy **

**to match their adversary's strength**

**0**

**But in the end their efforts will be for naught**

**Eternal darkness will face the worlds **

**The only way for the light to succeed **

**is the power of four hearts beating as one"**

**0**

**0**

The words were greeted with a stillness so absolute that I thought I could hear my heartbeat echoing off the walls of the huge room. Finally Lilly broke the silence:

"This is just great… When I left Lunpa three days ago I just wanted to visit some relatives. Now, the town they lived in doesn't exist anymore, instead I'm more than one hundred feet below the ground and I just found out I'm the victim of some stupid prophecy!"

"Victim…? Most people would call that being chosen…" Lance pointed out. "But what makes you think this means you? It says 'heroes from two worlds'; this includes Will and Kara of course, but the other two could be anyone from Weyard, couldn't they?"

"I have a really bad feeling about this. Even if this prophecy doesn't specifically mean us, we're in this one way or another…" She sighed. "I'd like to put it off as nonsense, I really do, but there is no denying that Will and Kara come from a different world… And these last four lines make it pretty clear to me that this won't be a walk in the park."

"Uh… did you just read that thing!" Lance asked. Lilly stopped short. "You're right, I can read it now!"

"Me, too!" Lance said. "When you just pointed at that passage, I could read it, too!"

I looked at the tablet again and to my surprise, the strange characters seemed to shift into familiar words and letters! But in between the verses of the prophecy, there were various parts that remained unreadable.

"I guess by reading it to us, you somehow unlocked the message for us." I said to Will. "But what's with those passages?" I pointed at the cryptic parts.

"Dunno." Will said. "I couldn't make sense of them, so I left them out and went on with what I could read. I wish we could copy it down, then maybe we could decipher it later…"

Suddenly, the light coming from the golden panels seemed to dim, plunging the room into some sort of murky, yellowish-brown darkness. Then, a voice rang out in my mind:

_**Holder of the key between worlds,**_

_**step forward and unlock this slate!**_

The original brightness of the room returned just like it had gone seconds ago, gradually but fast. The four of us looked around in confusion, but noone except us was to be seen.

"The key between worlds… what could it be?" Lance asked.

"My GBA brought us here," Will said, "but I don't think it could unlock anything…"

Lilly bent down to look at the bottom part of the tablet. "There's a hole at the end of the inscription." she said, pointing at the lower right corner of the last verse. "That must be the keyhole."

We knelt down to look at it. It was the shape of a narrow rectangle. "The GBA doesn't fit in there, but…" Will browsed through his pockets, pulling out a GBA cartridge. Looking close, I could make out the words on the label: 'Golden Sun: The Wise One's Legacy'.

"Technically, it was this thing that brought us here. Let's see…" He plugged the object into the hole. "Fits perfectly." Quickly he stood up and stepped back from the stone. Lilly, Lance and I followed suit.

Nothing happened for a short while. Then the tablet began to vibrate and the letters briefly glowed purple. There was a noise like breaking rock, and suddenly the letters were floating in mid-air, two inches away from their stone counterparts.

_This looks familiar…_ I thought to myself as I watched the suspended letters rise high above our heads. _Maybe we do get a summon after all…_

Will seemed to think along these lines, too; he turned around and raised his hands above his head, mimicking Felix' gesture. The letters flashed twice before they started moving, forming a single line which moved right past Will and into the game cartridge.

He maintained his pose for another two seconds before his arms slumped down. "It chose a piece of plastic over me!" he wailed. I put a comforting arm around him. "Don't be sad, Will. Maybe it was for the better…"

Will wasn't convinced, however. "What could be good about a dud game cartridge receiving such a power instead of me!" he lamented as Lilly bent down and removed the cartridge.

"Why don't you try sticking it into that 'GBA' thingy or however you call it?" she asked, handing the object to Will. It looked exactly the same as before the modification.

"Last time I did that, we ended up here!" Will said, getting serious again. "I suspect it might also serve to bring us back, but the first crossing completely drained the power of the batteries."

"Still, it might do more than just open a gate between worlds." Lance said. "Go on and try it already!"

Reluctantly, he inserted the cartridge. I put a hand on his shoulder, just in case, and he turned on the power.

There was no white flash like last time; instead, the power bulb glowed with green light and the screen turned black. I bent closer, trying to see something on the display, but the dim light was not enough to make out details.

"Wait a sec…" Lance said, raising his right arm over our heads. "Watch out…" he warned us as his hand was suddenly enveloped in a thin layer of fire. The three of us backed away, startled at the sudden source of heat. "Don't worry, it won't burn you. Let's take a look now, shall we?"

In the center of the screen, clearly visible now, was the 'new' GS logo: the traditional Golden Sun caption combined with an image of the Wise One, the ' o ' being replaced by the single eye. "Looks like some sort of title screen…" I said, stating the obvious.

"And what does this 'title screen' do?" Lilly asked curiously.

"Well, that's where you go before starting the actual game. There, you can change some settings and pick your file…" Noticing Lance' questioning look, Will explained further: "The game keeps save files to monitor your progress within the game. Usually, there is more than one save file, so several people can play without having to start over each time."

"But this doesn't look like the usual options." I pointed out. "There is only one choice, and it says 'Prophecy'."

"Hmm…" Will muttered, "I guess that means…" He pressed the (A) button. The logo vanished and text appeared on the screen which we recognized as the verses of the Prophecy right away.

"It's a copy of the Prophecy!" I said, looking over Will's shoulder on the display.

"Hey, I wanna look, too!" Lilly was squinting, trying to read the upside-down words. Suddenly she was holding the electronical device and Will was staring at his empty hands. Only an ever so faint swishing noise and a weak draft of air indicated the swiftness with which the 'transaction' had taken place.

"Wow, and translated, too!" she exclaimed, scrolling the text downwards. "Thank Venus, those letters made my head hurt…"

"Erm… Lilly, would you mind giving that back?" Will asked, exasperated.

Lilly ignored him and went on reading. "Whoa bummer, there are still those gibberish parts!"

Will sighed and I cautiously stepped back. He then made a swift slashing motion with his index and middle fingers, his hands moving past each other in opposite directions. Two wind waves appeared out of nowhere, traveling on an imaginary line between Will and Lilly. The GBA was knocked out of Lilly's grip and Will caught it with the hand he had moved backwards. The wave that moved towards Lilly hit her left wrist without doing much more than ruffling her clothes.

"Hey!" Lilly complained, her hands suddenly empty again. Will smirked: "I'd prefer if you asked me when you want to look at my things."

"Hmph… If you insist…" Lilly grumbled. "What use is at text anyway if nobody can read it?"

"Well, the parts we know already ARE readable…" Will pointed out. "As for the rest, maybe we can get someone to translate it for us." He checked the display again before turning the GBA off and pocketing it. Lance extinguished the fire surrounding his hand.

There was a moment of silence, but before someone could ask: "What now?", the lights dimmed again and the mysterious voice rang out in our minds:

**0**

_**Gather the Crops…**_

_**Wield them to grow**_

**_both their strenght_ _and yours…_**

_**Two rest with Sol, two with Luna…**_

_**One on either side of you…**_

_**One sleeping in the heart of the earth…**_

_**One restlessly drifting across the nighttime sky…**_

_**Use the key… young ones…**_

_**Life… Wealth… Power… Skill…**_

_**Grow them well… the Crops of Alchemy…**_

**0**

More silence. The room gradually regained its former level of brightness.

"The Crops of Alchemy?" Lance wondered. "What does it mean? Life, Wealth and what?"

" 'One on either side of you', it said." Lilly repeated, taking the more pragmatic approach to the riddle. "I figure this chest contains one of these crop things! Which in turn means Lance is carrying another of them!"

Lance let out a whistle, impressed with the swiftness of her chain of thoughts. "Makes sense… That means we already got two of them!"

"If you disregard the fact that one of them is still in that chest, you're right." Will rectified. "But personally, I don't fancy battling another of these things…"

"We don't have to!" I cut in. "It said something about using the key, didn't it?" I approached the panel where the huge chest stood and examined its lock.

"Come here, Will! Look at this!" Instead of a normal keyhole, there was a rectangle-shaped hole like that on the stone tablet. "I see…" Will said, taking out the GBA and removing the cartridge. "Be careful not to touch it directly!" I warned him, as well as Lilly and Lance, who had come over to watch, too. With a nod, he plugged the cartridge in.

"What the…?" Will frowned. "There seems to be some resistance…"

"Push harder." Lilly advised. He looked at me and I gave him a nod of encouragement. Using both his hands, he pressed the 'key' into the lock.

Suddenly, the same screeching noise we had heard on the backside of Mt. Aleph reverberated throughout the chamber as rainbow colors flashed across the surface of the chest. Will recoiled, letting out a cry of surprise as the massive container burst into purple flames.

When the noise and the fire had died down, a pile of gold, a sword and the GBA cartrigde was all that remained on the relief of Sol.

"Wow… I just wasted several thousand experience points…" Will muttered as he picked himself up from the floor.

"You're probably right…" I said, joining him in examining the treasure. "But it serves noone if we lose our lives trying to rack up some quick levels."

While Will was busy shoving the coins and some small bars into the pouch and dividing the larger bars into four portions, I decided to take a look at the weapon and removed it from its sheath. It had a sleek and elegant but yet deadly look. The blade and handle was made not only of the same material, a white substance that resembled both a metal and a crystal, but it also seemed to have been crafted out of a single piece of said material. The blunt sides had no edges and the tip of the weapon didn't end in a point, but in a curve. It was slightly warm to the touch and even in the dim light of the sanctum, the blade gleamed in a shade of light blue that could - for lack of a better word - only be described as holy. Being a longsword , it should have been quite heavy but I found myself able to effortlessly hold it vertically in front of me, using one hand only.

"Another sword?" Lilly inquired, dropping down on my other side. Lance wanted to have a look as well and followed suit immediately. I lifted the sword higher so they could have a good look.

"Ah, I remember that one…" Lance said, his look changing to one of concern. "Don't be fooled by its pure appearance. This blade is called Soulreaver; it is said to be driven by an unquenchable thirst for blood and to develop a will of its own in heated battles. According to the 'Weapons Monthly', only somebody pure of heart and strong of will can hope to control this weapon. …And no, I don't think that means you, Lilly."

Lilly, who was on the verge of saying something quickly shut her mouth again.

"Weapons Monthly?" Will arched an eyebrow.

"Oh, how should I explain this to you…" Lance said, thinking hard. "A guide for weapons the scholars of the golden age made for the common people... It's some kind of large thin book…"

"A magazine!" I interrupted.

"You have them too!" Lance was genuinely surprised. Will laughed silently in my head. "Anyway, the library at Prox has a rare copy of the first issue ever, featuring what they called 'the four crops'!" he continued, full of excitement. "I guess these are the Crops of Alchemy we're looking for!"

"Do you remember what it said about the other two blades?" I asked him, becoming curious myself.

"One of them had to do with gold…" Lance answered after a short period of thinking. "But I can't remember the last one."

"Why didn't they put the one with the gold here?" Lilly griped, but nobody took note of her.

"I think Will should have this one." I said. "Lance and I have good weapons already."

"What about you, Lilly?" Will hesitated.

"You can take it if I get the one that has to do with gold!" Lilly said slyly.

"I can't promise you that… But how about we take a short trip to Lunpa and buy you a really nice weapon?"

"Are you thinking about a certain Grievous Mace?" Lilly pressed on.

Will winced. "That would eat up our newly aquired fortune… But I promise you will wield that weapon before this quest is over!"

"Sounds good enough…" Lilly grinned.

Will divided our new riches between our group before equipping the new weapon. As he fastened the scabbard to his belt, he was briefly surrounded by a purple glow. I also noticed the weapon had changed to a platinum color. "What happened?" Will wanted to know.

"I think it adapted your element!" Lance excitedly looked at the sword's new color. "It seems that unlike other magical weapons, these adjust to the affinity of the user!"

"Did you get a new Psynergy, too?" Lilly asked him. Will nodded: "Yeah, but it feels kind of… dark… I don't know if it would be a good idea to change the sword."

"Well, tough luck." Lance commented. "You'll probably need to use both forms if you want to grow and use the Crop. That's how these weapons work, if I remember correctly. And if you ask me, the dark form will be the one to power the sword up…"

Will looked at the sword while considering the options. "Even though I was only playing games, I rarely used cursed equipment or other items which have some adverse effect on the user, and I never liked it, especially if I didn't have full control over it. Now I'm facing the same choice in reality, and I find that I don't like the idea any better."

"It's one of these crops which we're supposed to need to complete this quest, so it can't be that bad." I said.

Will scowled darkly. "I don't think the Wise One cares that much about the lives of his subjects, let alone their tender feelings..."

"You think we're working for the Wise One?" Lance asked, surprised. Will shrugged. "I guessed he has the monopoly on heroes and 'saving-the-world' stuff..." He looked at the sword once more, hesitating. "I guess I'll give it a try and see what happens."

"If I were you, I'd rather try it out now than in the heat of battle." Lilly advised.

"Well, that does make sense…" he reluctantly agreed.

"Here goes nothing!" Will concentrated for a second before he raised the sword high above his head in a determined gesture. _Somehow, this doesn't_ _look remotely as pathetic on him as it probably would on somebody else…_ I thought while watching him switch the blade to the to the left hand, its tip pointing at the ground. He raised his right hand and yelled: "Consume!"

Suddenly the blade hung in mid-air, hovering unsupported over some kind of runed circle that had appeared on the floor. Darkness gathered around the sword, encircling it in an aura of the same purplish-black color as the arcane symbol. The dark vortex stopped a moment later, the sword however kept hovering over the rune. When Will grabbed its handle, the symbol disappeared.

The Soulreaver now looked like it was made of black onyx, but a hue of Will's platinum color was still present in the sword. The dim lights cast crimson reflections on its surface. Will did a few practice strokes and examined it closely. "It looks like it's from the deepest pits of hell, but I can't feel a dark power or anything in it... There's a new Psynergy, but I won't try it now. It somehow allows to sacrifice someone's life energy to attack... or to strengthen the sword, I don't really want to know..." he shrugged, putting the sword back into its sheath. "I prefer if it feeds on the lives of our enemies, not ours."

"Do you actually plan on using it?" Lance asked in disbelief.

"I'll try it in battle and see whether it is safe to use. I'm rather confident that it is possible to control or reverse any adverse effects it may have."

"These speculations don't get us anywhere." Lilly stated. "Why don't we go in this sanctum and try to get some real info about this mission? We don't know anything about a threat, or who we're up against. Heck, we don't even know where to go after this!"

"Yes, we do." Will said calmly, prompting a confused look from Lilly. "When we get out of here, we'll look for Vale's residents." He glanced a look at me and I gave him a nod of approval. "Whatever this big threat is, it won't be able to destroy the world overnight. Right now, everything in this world seems just peachy. We're in no immediate need to rush things. But we should build our strength in whatever time we have left."

"Yeah, let's worry about how we get into this place!" Lance said. "As of now, there are still these huge doors between us and those mounds of trea - ...um, I mean, all that secret knowledge and stuff..."

Lilly shot him a sharp look, but didn't say anything, because that moment, the lights dimmed again and the mysterious voice rang out in our minds:

_**Knights and Sages of Alchemy**_

_**Follow your respective paths**_

_**But listen:**_

_**Two of you may pass each door**_

_**Though four are needed to prevail within**_

"Another riddle." Lilly grinned. "I'm really starting to like this..."

"I wonder what it means..." Lance mused. "Sounds like we'll have to split up."

"'Four are needed to prevail within'..." Will repeated, pondering the words.

"Maybe it means we'll have to be twice as strong to make it through." Lance suggested.

Will shook his head. "Nah, that goes without saying. If we're going to save the world or do other heroic stuff, just twice as much power won't get us anywhere. There must be a deeper meaning."

"Arrgh!" Lilly let out a frustrated yell. "I can't take anymore of this talk of heroes and saving-the-world! For Venus' sake, we're just trying to have a look at some old ruins, how heroic is that!"

"This isn't just some old ruins!" Lance said, flustered. "This sanctum is the very birthplace of Alchemy! The two sanctums are Weyard's greatest historical sites! Many a scholar would gladly die just to get a peek behind those doors!"

"Two sanctums?" Will asked."There is another sanctum like this one!"

Lance nodded. "Anemos Sanctum, near Contigo, on the continent of Atteka. It's supposed to be the counterpart of Sol Sanctum, in every respect. They say that in times far ago, they used to call it 'Luna Sanctum'."

"We've been there in the game," I said, "but we didn't find much resemblance to this sanctum. The most notable things about it were the fact that seventy-two Djinn, eighteen of each element are required to get in, that it houses some of the most difficult monsters in all the game, and that deep inside rests the Summon Tablet of Iris, the rainbow goddess." Lance looked slightly baffled at this onslaught of information.

"The part about the monsters makes sense." Will added. "In the game, the monsters inhabiting Sol Sanctum looked like those wandering around the vicinity of Vale, but they were much weaker."

"Hmm... I guess the power of the sanctum weakens them..." Lance thought aloud. "But let's get back to the task at hand: I'm sure you noticed the different designs of the doors, too. Combined with the words of the Prophecy this probably means that part of this sanctum is for the 'Knights' and another part is for the 'Sages'. There are two of us for each path. But the big question is: Who goes where?"

"Pretty simple, actually." Lilly said instantly, relishing in the attention as three pairs of eyes turned towards her. "We'll just line up in pairs in front of the door and see for which two of us it opens. Trial and error, you know? There are six possible combinations. Although I personally think that me and Will are the most warrior-like of this group."

"It's even easier than that." Will said suddenly, catching even me by surprise, despite the mental link we shared. "Much easier. I'm not going anywhere without Kara, and whatever entity intends to send us on this quest's gotta know that. That leaves two possibilities. Knight or Sage, I don't care. But we're going together, or I'm straight out of this place and looking for Kraden again, Prophecy or no prophecy."

I gave my boyfriend an admiring look, but Lance looked sceptical . "Do you really think this 'entity', as you call it, cares whether you have a problem with the team setup or not?"

Will smiled. "It better had, 'cause otherwise I can't really be bothered saving this world, can I? I mean, come on, it's not even our world!" I gave him a piercing look, and he continued. "At least I _could_ think so. But even so one of these doors had better open for the two of us, or there's no way of predicting if we actually do what this 'entity' expects us to."

"Hehe, I like your line of argumentation!" Lilly grinned. "I suppose you won't mind me and Lance trying if we can get this Knight Door to open?" Without waiting for a response, she marched off, once again dragging Lance along.

"Did I tell you that I don't particularly like being dragged all over places?" Lance' annoyed voice echoed through the hall.

"I think I faintly remember you saying something like that..." Lilly said indifferently while continuing to haul him over to the pair of huge doors depicting warrior equipment and battle scenes. Will just shrugged and we walked after them.

Meanwhile Lilly was trying all manners of things trying to get the door to open, but neither screaming nor begging, kicking or shouting obscenities at the door had the desired effect.

"Um... Lilly... Why don't we try the other door?" Lance asked timidly. "I mean, it would have opened by now if we were supposed to enter, don't you think?"

Lilly glared at him before proceeding to draw a long, jagged piece of rock out of thin air which she fired at the door. It crashed into the portal without putting so much as a scratch on it. When the bits of rock the javelin had broken into disappeared a second later, the gateway still looked as new as ever. "I think that was the wrong approach." Lance stated plainly.

"Well, at least I tried everything..." Lilly grumbled, reluctantly stepping back from the huge gate.

Will looked at me, I nodded and we stepped up in front of the door. There was a click noise, and then, with a low rumble, the doors moved apart, revealing a corridor behind that lead into the darkness. "Well, I guess it's your entity's lucky day..." Lilly commented dryly. "I guess we'll take what's left then." She said sardonically and went for the Sages' door.

"Wait a sec!" I said, remembering something. "We mustn't forget about the second part of the riddle! ' Two may pass each door, but four are needed to prevail within.' What could it mean?"

_Excuse me? _Bubble suddenly spoke up in my mind. Will gave me a questioning look. _Would you please tell your friends to put all of us on standby?_

The strange request confused me, but I relayed it to the others nevertheless. A moment later the four Djinn appeared on their respective owners. Bubble hopped down from my arms to the floor and the other Djinn followed suit. When he was sure everyone was looking, he asked: "Okay now, how many of us are there in this room?"

"Uh... four?" Lilly tried, her eyes fixed on the group of Djinn.

"Count again." Bubble said simply. "Look at the larger picture."

Lilly seemed confused; she looked around the room, but failed to spot more elemental creatures. Lance' face on the other hand brightened up, I could almost see the lightbulb above his head. "Oh Lilly." He sighed. "I guess I'll take back everything I said about your brilliant mind. Come here, folks." He gathered up the Djinn from the ground and they quickly spread over his body; Bubble and Gas were resting on his shoulders and Root was standing on his head while Aura was sitting in his cupped hands. "Now look at me and tell me what you see."

"A nerd and four Djinn!" Lilly said promptly, rolling her eyes.

Lance face twitched briefly, but then he was back in control. "I'm going to ignore the barb." he said calmly. "Now watch closely." He raised a hand and Aura was set to him in a red flash. "What do you see now?"

"A nerd and three Djinn!" Lilly said, exasperated. "Look, I don't see how this is going to help us solve -" She paused, understanding dawning on her face. "Ah! Now I get it! Lance, I hate to admit it, but you're not remotely as stupid as you look!"

Lance let out a long, deep sigh of sadness. "In long years of hard work I finally managed to convince myself that my looks aren't particularly bad, at least not far below average, and now this girl ruins all of it with a few words, in a matter of seconds... How can this world be so cruel..."

"So we need Djinn to survive in there!" Lilly said, acting as if she had known the meaning of the riddle all along. "We have Djinn, so we're basically home-free!"

Will shook his head. "That still can't be all. My experience as a Golden Sun player tells me that one Djinni doesn't really make that much of a difference. You noticed that, didn't you? Since you have Root, you're a little stronger, but not so much that it could possibly change the outcome of a battle or test of skill. Am I wrong?"

Lilly shook her head. "It's true, the change isn't that great. But then what are we going to do now. Get out, grab some Djinn and come back once each of us has five or six?"

"No." I said. "It has to do with the Djinn, but sheer numbers won't cut it. Lance, can you set Bubble instead of Aura?"

Lance did so and while he was adjusting to the new feel of his body, I asked Lilly: "How many different types of power does he carry now?"

Again realization dawned on Lilly's face. " Of course, that's it! When we're together like this, we have all four elements! But only two of us may pass each door, which means our powers are also split. But by exchanging our Djinn, we can complement our own elements to close the circle again and each group is able to carry all four elements through these doors! Kara, you're a genius! Bloody brilliant!"

"Give the praise to Lance!" I said, feeling a faint blush creeping up my cheeks. "He was first to realize the Djinn are the key to this riddle. After the Djinn themselves, of course..." I winked at Lance and he put Bubble on standby again, who instantly winked back.

Lance looked expectantly at Lilly, who looked sideways until she couldn't ignore him any longer. "Alright, you did well! Happy now!" Having said that, she turned to walk away.

"No, Lilly, that won't do..." Root's voice sounded from Lance' head. "I remember you saying something different to Kara just now..."

Lilly sighed deeply, then turned around to look at Lance again, her face looking sincere. "Well then... Lance, you have proven that you're not here because of some divine mistake. You're a valuable member of this group and I'd be glad to explore this sanctum with you."

Lance smiled. "Thank you, Lilly. I accept your words of encouragement. But I guess you still have some ways to go before I can let you have Aura. For now, I'll entrust her to Kara." He handed the Mars Djinni to me.

"Huh? Why!" Lilly was confused. "Are you still not happy with what I said!"

"No, that's not it!" Lance said quickly, trying to reassure her. "But if I give Aura to you, they'll be missing the element of fire. You didn't forget already, did you?"

Instead of answering, Lilly simply let her head hang. "I guess you'll be needing Root, too..." she said after a while, taking her from Lance. "There you go. Take care of her, okay?" She gave the little creature a peck on the head before passing it on to Will. I couldn't help noticing Lance look and Will grinned, silently asking: _Wish that was you, do you?_ , causing Lance to go crimson.

"Take care of Bubble and Gas, too." I said. "Decide for yourself who gets who, but I suppose Lilly will be wanting Gas..."

"You got that right!" Lilly confirmed, grinning. Lance shrugged, giving the Jupiter Djinni to her. "Well then. I guess we'll meet again at this spot. If we don't come back after a while, you must go on without us." Lance blanched at this casual remark. "And don't weep too much for your Djinn, I heard they don't die that easily..." She was about to walk away to the other set of doors, but then she seemed to think of something. "Hey wait! I have an interesting idea. What happens if I...?" She took Lance' arm and started towards the opened set of doors. Suddenly there was a deafening bang and all of jumped horribly, but most of all Lilly. When we looked at the doors, they were sealed shut again.

"Oh well." Lilly said with resignation. "Guess we'll have no choice." Lance put a comforting arm around her and she let him lead her to the other gateway without further resistance. When they were a few steps away, the doors in front of us opened again, slowly revealing the hallway behind it with a constant grinding noise.

Will and I looked at each other. "Let's go!" he said, taking my hand and we stepped in together. One last look to Lance, who waved back at us, then the doors closed behind us, plunging us into darkness.

* * *

I hope it will take me less time to write from now on, but bear with me if it doesn't. And once again I turn to you for inspiration: I need some more class names fitting together with the following three: Dreamer, Visionary and Utopist. Please tell me if you can think of something that fits in here. 

I once again assure you, I am not inclined to stop writing this fic. In fact I'm pretty serious about it, serious enough to invent new classes, psynergies, items and other concepts that would fit seamlessly into the games if Camelot knew about them and chose to include them in a possible sequel. Heck, I even designed an Excel spreadsheet mimicking a status screen for my four heroes! I am also considering including excerpts of 'Kraden's Encyclopedia', which explains some of the terms and concepts of the Golden Sun world to people who are not familiar with it, but later on it might also feature new concepts and things I chose to add to this universe. Although I will have to be careful not to spoil things too early!

Tell me what you think of this idea. I'm looking forward to your comments and suggestions! Feel free to send your more elaborate comments or ideas to me at Quizer(at)gmx.de if you feel uncomfortable leaving reviews with a size of two pages and a half.

Oh, and if you're lucky, a bonus chapter might soon come your way, which will briefly take the view off our four main heroes to something that happened a while before the rise of the Golden Sun!

until then

Quizer


	14. Bonus Chapter 1

Hi people!

12/21/2005 UPDATE: I am painfully aware of the excessively long period of time without updates.While I still have no new chapter ready, I replaced the prologue and the first two chapters with slightly rewritten versions. Those new chapters have a new feature: Kraden's Journal. At the end of the chapter, there is a small comment/explanation about a particular part of the Golden Sun universe. This serves both the purpose to explain things to people who for some reason read this without having played the games (it might happen), and in time, new concepts that I will introduce will be explained there as well. Bear with me if they contain only stuff you already knew in the first few chapters, they will get more interesting as things progress. The changes in the chapter themselves aren't major, but you might find small alterations or an addition of several sentences. I intend to work my way through the other chapters in the same manner while typing up new stuff on the side. Hopefully I'll soon be able to give you another update.

Here is the first Bonus Chapter!

Bonus Chapters will appear irregularly between normal chapters, featuring different characters than our four main heroes and concentrate on events that transpire elsewhere, possibly even in the past.

The following chapter takes place some time before the rise of the Golden Sun, on the Gondowan continent.

**_Mild Lemon incoming at end of chapter! People easily offended by slight sexual content are hereby warned!_**

Well then, enjoy the first Bonus chapter!

* * *

Bonus Chapter 1

(POV unknown)

Yellowish-brown light shone through my closed eyelids. _Where am I?_ I opened my eyes and tried to sit up at the same time, but waves of pain suddenly assaulted every corner of my body and pushed me back towards the border of consciousness. I wasn't sure, but I thought I heard footsteps along with my name being called twice while I tried to fight away the darkness in my head.

Slowly, the pain subsided and my thoughts cleared again. Carefully, I opened my eyes again. I was lying on the floor of some sort of chamber with purple walls and ceiling. On the border of my view there was some kind of yellow glow.

"I swear, your rashness will be the end of you someday..."

The voice belonged to the woman who was bending down on me and I immediately recognized my battle partner and lifelong friend Menardi. Her distinct features were ruled by a worried frown. "You're finally awake. How do you feel?"

I grimaced as I gingerly tried to sit up again, more carefully this time. "I feel like every bloody bone in my body is broken..." I groaned when I had finally succeeded. Menardi winced. "Stupid question, actually..."

"What happened? Where are we?" I asked her.

It all came back to me then, a flood of returning memories: the fight against Isaac and his companions, the fusion with Menardi, the incredible fury and determination they fought back with...

"Wait, I remember now..." I said, a hand against my forehead, trying to stop my head from spinning. "We lost... and fell into the aerie..."

"Yes..." Menardi confirmed. "I never thought they'd be that strong... Did you see the courage of that healer girl? She surrendered her healing powers to summon that huge, ice-spewing thing that did us in..."

"Are we dead?" I asked. "I always imagined hell to be a warm and cozy place... how disappointing."

Menardi chuckled. "If this is hell, then humankind isn't really all that evil - it's really lonely here... No, I think we are in some kind of secret chamber deep inside Venus Lighthouse. You must've hit your head pretty bad, you were out so long, must've been more than two days. When I awoke, I healed you immediately."

"I still feel more dead than alive..." I muttered, holding my head. Menardi smiled wryly. "I guess I instinctively used my remaining Psynergy to heal myself while I was still out. We both owe our lives to this gem." She took out the Ply Aquamarine we had found in the Lemurian vessel ages ago, twirling it through her fingers while lost in thought.

"Saturos, there's something which I must tell you... I've been keeping this from you all this time..." She looked down, unable to keep looking at me. "I was afraid of jeopardizing both our mission and our friendship by telling you. But after this," she gestured at the opening in the ceiling, "after this, I figured I don't want to die without you knowing..." She looked straight at me again, her eyes shining with unreadable emotion, a kaleidoscope of feelings threatening to overwhelm me with its intensity. I had seen her angry, sad, amused, worried, cheerful and depressed, but all kinds of expressions couldn't prepare me for this.

"I realized just how useless it would all be if either of us died before I could tell you... I love you, Saturos."

"Wow... I... I never dared to think of you that way..." I breathed, not expecting this in the least. Fear of rejection lit up in her eyes and I quickly took both her hands into mine, hoping to reassure her as I tried to explain. "I felt that our mission was far too important... If we had messed things up, our teamwork could have been impeded, and along with that, our chance at success... My only hope was finishing this quickly, that's why I always went straight on and didn't hesitate over secondary things..."

I let out a long, relieved sigh, glad to finally get this off my chest. "The strict training we underwent supplied me with the discipline I needed to see you as my best friend and battle partner whom I trust with my life, but nothing more..." I shook my head. "It was tough as hell, though."

Menardi blinked. "You mean... you were... tempted?"

I grinned despite myself. "Oh, I was... You remember those times when I woke up in the middle of the night, face flushed and drenched in sweat?"

"The nightmares?" Menardi looked bewildered. "What does that have to do with..." She trailed off, suspicion dawning on her face. "Don't tell me..."

I grinned apologetically. "I found it somewhat harder to maintain that degree of self-control in my dreams..." I felt the heat rising to my cheeks as I recalled some of the more vivid images. "Let's just say they weren't really nightmares at all..."

"Oh Mars, and I always comforted you afterwards!" She covered her mouth with her hand, realizing what turmoil her actions must have caused within me. "I only made it ten times worse, didn't I?"

I smiled reassuringly, reclaiming her hand. "It was most considerate of you. It's my own fault I didn't allow myself to properly enjoy it..." I winked at her. "Next time will be different, though..."

Menardi smirked. "What happened to your resolve?" she asked mischievously, leaning closer.

"No seriously..." I said, putting my hands on her shoulders to keep her off me for now so I could continue looking at her. "Would you want to continue pretending? Now that you know the feeling's mutual? I for one can't."

"I completely agree." Menardi said, turning serious once more. "For all we know, we should be dead right now, but somehow we survived... We've been given a second chance, we'd be fools to throw it away..."

"They'll have deployed the reserve team by now..." I mused. "From now on, the fate of the world rests not solely in our hands anymore... I'd say we deserve a break."

"That sounds sensible to me..." Smiling, she put her arms around my neck and leaned in again. I smiled, too, pulling her close until our lips connected. A thrilling sensation went through my body as her lips softly moved against mine while I let my hands wander over her back.

Menardi however was hungering for more; the tip of her tongue brushed against the sensitive skin of my lips, gently yet determinedly requesting entrance which I readily permitted. At the same time she pressed herself forcefully against me, pinning me down on the floor. My sore body protested at the sudden assault and I couldn't help wincing. "Be gentle..." I managed to bring out, even though part of my words were muffled by her mouth.

Menardi broke the kiss to look at me, eyes blazing, a devilish grin on her face. "After all this time you've been making me wait! You've got to be kidding me! There's no way you'll get off that easily! Prepare to be devoured by an inferno of passion!"

My heart nearly leaped out of my chest when she launched herself at me again, her lips once more stifling any protest I might have uttered. The floor was only poorly cushioned by the makeshift bedding Menardi had constructed with parts of our clothes; for a short moment I feared she might accidentally knock me out, but strong hands caught my falling head and placed it gently on my cloak which served as a pillow. Pleasantly cool waves of healing power suddenly flowed through my head, relaxing both my mind and body. It did not stop until the soreness had completely faded away, leaving only a sense of peace and profound gratitude towards my partner. Pulling her down on me, I put my right arm around her neck, firmly locking her in our kiss. Meanwhile my other hand moved to to her waistline and slipped into her clothes. I darted into her knickers, swiftly sliding over the smooth curves of her bum before escaping to 'safer' territory on her back. I was immediately rewarded with a thrilled gasp followed by a sharp intake of breath, her body shuddering delightfully at the sudden touch.

Our heavy armor had long since been removed by Menardi, obviously before I even woke up. Knowing from personal experience that letting me sleep in my armor would only add to my soreness later, she had taken mercy on me and since this part of the Lighthouse actually seemed to be monster-free, she had probably seen no reason to deny herself the same convenience. As other parts of our clothing joined it on the floor around us, I briefly wondered if she might have set this up somehow. _Wouldn't put it past her, she's definitely cunning enough..._I grinned as I buried my face in her neck and softly bit her, prompting another excited gasp._If she has, I'll have to congratulate her later..._

I looked into her eyes and felt my heart skip a beat at the raw desire that was burning within them as she nearly ripped the shirt off my chest, whereas I tried to keep her overgarments somewhat intact as I pushed them up over her shoulders. _...so that she'll still be able to look presentable, on the off-chance of her not wanting to live with me in this tower happily ever after..._

When she lowered her body onto mine again, her hot flesh searing my skin immediately erased all coherent thought from my mind, leaving more room instead to concentrate on the sensations swamping my body. I was gradually losing myself within her and she, too, seemed desperate to make up for lost time. The world around us faded into the background, disappearing in a fiery haze as we united in a way I had never considered possible. Several long minutes, it was only me, Menardi and the emotions we created together, until a violent earthquake shook Venus Lighthouse for the second time, causing me to cling desperately to Menardi before my consciousness faded into a blissful stupor.

* * *

Did you like it? Please tell me your comments.

More Bonus Chapters will come up in the future, not necessarily featuring the same characters!

I wish to to remind those helpful individuals out there who leave suggestions about Djinn in their reviews that I need assistance primarily in the effects department, making up names for Djinn is the smaller part of the problem. Although the last suggestion I received is one I might actually use, I'd prefer to receive advice on what the special ability of a Djinni could be.

You would also aid me a lot if you sent some suggestions on puzzles I could employ within the new Sol Sanctum - I need about four major puzzle rooms on each path, and so far I have only three of those eight actually planned out so far. Credit will be given for anything I decide to use. Send suggestions at Quizer(at)gmx.de.

until next time

Quizer


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